The 'Share the Scraps' Economy

Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration. He is an economist, who believes government and public policy should serve the broad interests of the American people.

Reich has become one of the most important voices opposing the sell out of our government to big corporations and the super rich.  This article focuses on the collapse of the middle class, driven by the loss of living wage jobs.   



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Robert Reich: Why Work Is Turning Into a Nightmare

By Robert Reich         

February 3, 2015

How would you like to live in an economy where robots do everything that can be predictably programmed in advance, and almost all profits go to the robots' owners?

Meanwhile, human beings do the work that's unpredictable - odd jobs, on-call projects, fetching and fixing, driving and delivering, tiny tasks needed at any and all hours - and patch together barely enough to live on.
Brace yourself. This is the economy we're now barreling toward.
They're Uber [3] drivers, Instacart [4] shoppers, and Airbnb [5] hosts. They include Taskrabbit [6] jobbers, Upcounsel [7]'s on-demand attorneys, and Healthtap [8]'s on-line doctors.
They're Mechanical Turks [9].
The euphemism is the "share" economy [10]. A more accurate term would be the "share-the-scraps" economy.
New software technologies are allowing almost any job to be divided up into discrete tasks that can be parceled out to workers when they're needed, with pay determined by demand for that particular job at that particular moment.
Customers and workers are matched online. Workers are rated on quality and reliability.
The big money goes to the corporations that own the software. The scraps go to the on-demand workers.
Consider Amazon's "Mechanical Turk." Amazon calls it "a marketplace for work that requires human intelligence [11]."
In reality, it's an Internet job board offering minimal pay for mindlessly-boring bite-sized chores. Computers can't do them because they require some minimal judgment, so human beings do them for peanuts -- say, writing a product description, for $3; or choosing the best of several photographs, for 30 cents; or deciphering handwriting, for 50 cents.
Amazon takes a healthy cut of every transaction.
This is the logical culmination of a process that began thirty years ago when corporations began turning over full-time jobs to temporary workers, independent contractors, free-lancers, and consultants.
It was a way to shift risks and uncertainties onto the workers - work that might entail more hours than planned for, or was more stressful than expected.
And a way to circumvent labor laws that set minimal standards for wages, hours, and working conditions. And that enabled employees to join together to bargain for better pay and benefits.
The new on-demand work shifts risks entirely onto workers, and eliminates minimal standards completely.
In effect, on-demand work is a reversion to the piece work of the nineteenth century - when workers had no power and no legal rights, took all the risks, and worked all hours for almost nothing.
Uber drivers [12] use their own cars, take out their own insurance, work as many hours as they want or can - and pay Uber a fat percent [13]. Worker safety? Social Security? Uber says it's not the employer so it's not responsible.
Amazon's Mechanical Turks work for pennies, literally. Minimum wage? Time-and-a half for overtime? Amazon says it just connects buyers and sellers so it's not responsible.
Defenders of on-demand work emphasize its flexibility. Workers can put in whatever time they want, work around their schedules, fill in the downtime in their calendars.
"People are monetizing their own downtime," says [14] Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University's business school.
But this argument confuses "downtime" with the time people normally reserve for the rest of their lives.
There are still only twenty-four hours in a day. When "downtime" is turned into work time, and that work time is unpredictable and low-paid, what happens to personal relationships? Family? One's own health?
Other proponents of on-demand work point to studies, such as one recently commissioned by Uber [15], showing Uber's on-demand workers to be "happy [15]."
But how many of them would be happier with a good-paying job offering regular hours?
An opportunity to make some extra bucks can seem mighty attractive in an economy whose median wage has been stagnant for thirty years and almost all of whose economic gains have been going to the top.
That doesn't make the opportunity a great deal. It only shows how bad a deal most working people have otherwise been getting.
Defenders also point out that as on-demand work continues to grow, on-demand workers are joining together in guild-like groups [16] to buy insurance and other benefits.
But, notably, they aren't using their bargaining power to get a larger share of the income they pull in, or steadier hours. That would be a union - something that Uber, Amazon, and other on-demand companies don't want.
Some economists laud on-demand work as a means of utilizing people moreefficiently [17].
But the biggest economic challenge we face isn't using people more efficiently. It's allocating work and the gains from work more decently.
On this measure, the share-the-scraps economy is hurtling us backwards.
 

                          

    

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Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/robert-reich-why-work-turning-nightmare

Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/robert-reich-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] https://get.uber.com/cl/?city_name=san-francisco&utm_source=AdWords_Brand&utm_campaign=search%7Cc%7Cdrivers%7Csan-francisco%7Ccountry-1%7Ccity-1%7Ckeyword_Uber%7Cmatchtype_e%7Cad_69616707880%7Ccampaign_brand%7Cgroup_uber%3eexact%7Cnetwork_g&utm_medium=kenid_ce47600c-ca8d-4f0f-b00c-08e02d402eae&gclid=CKyr5vTiw8MCFRBgfgodXYkAMw
[4] https://www.instacart.com/
[5] https://www.airbnb.com/?af=1922719&c=A_TC%3Dm84nccm9s3%26G_MT%3De%26G_CR%3D22111491256%26G_N%3Dg%26G_K%3Dairbnb%26G_P%3D&gclid=CJ-vgajjw8MCFQZafgod24cACA
[6] https://www.taskrabbit.com/careers
[7] https://www.upcounsel.com/home/careers
[8] https://www.healthtap.com/prime-trial?AG=HealthTap&CN=%5BUI%5D_-_%5BBrand%5D_-_%5BUS%5D_-_%28Exact%29&gclid=CPvpldnjw8MCFZSPfgodFzsA8A&pubcode=GA&referrer=ppc&type=Search&v=5
[9] https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome
[10] http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573104-internet-everything-hire-rise-sharing-economy
[11] http://aws.amazon.com/mturk/
[12] http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-drivers-across-the-country-are-protesting-tomorrow--heres-why-2014-10
[13] http://www.wsj.com/articles/ubers-new-funding-values-it-at-over-41-billion-1417715938
[14] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/technology/personaltech/uber-a-rising-business-model.html?_r=0
[15] http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120832/uber-study-uber-drivers-are-happy-uber
[16] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/technology/personaltech/uber-a-rising-business-model.html
[17] http://blogs.microsoft.com/work/2013/11/12/the-mobile-workforce-more-productive-efficient-and-healthy/
[18] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Robert Reich: Why Work Is Turning Into a Nightmare
[19] http://www.alternet.org/
[20] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

Police Violence

In the past year, a lot of light has been directed at some particularly ugly incidents in which white police officers have killed unarmed African American citizens.  What is really disgusting about this is that in many of these cases - Ferguson, Missouri and Cleveland, Ohio  come to mind -  cops who behaved essentially like thugs in uniform have gotten way with murder.

An unarmed black man named Eric Garner was surrounded by NYPD cops in Staten Island. Suspected of selling cigarettes illegally, he was taken down with a choke hold - a method banned under NYPD rules - - and died as a result from asphyxiation. The corner labeled it murder. The district attorney cleared the officer who killed Eric Garner of wrongdoing. This kind of thing has been happening too often to unarmed black men. 

The vast majority of police officers are honorable people, who take their responsibility to the public very seriously. Most of them go through their entire careers without being part of an 'officer involved shooting'.

It's very clear that some police forces are much better at managing their lethal capability than others. In the case of local police forces as in Ferguson, Missouri, the problem starts with the police force not being representative of the community. The citizens of Ferguson are predominantly black, while the police force is almost entirely white.

Here are some ideas I've heard that make sense to me. First, police hiring practices need to be scrutinized closely to assure that the process excludes individuals with a history of racism or gender discrimination. Second, the training process must be revised to moderate the 'authoritarianism' that prevails in the policing process.  The us versus them (being the citizenry) mentality of some police officers must be rechanneled to favor restraint over escalation.

Another very big problem is the high level of tolerance in cases where there has been clear misconduct or excessive use of force in the policing process. Police unions seem to be willing to protect one of their own no matter the circumstance. Moreover, making district attorneys, who depend on the police for 'making' the cases they work on,  also responsible for prosecuting police misconduct, is clearly not working. 

In recent years, the police have been 'militarized' to a high degree, with assault weapons, body armor  and massive assault vehicles being gifted by the federal government to large and small police forces across the country.  Applying the 'SWAT Team' mentality to misdemeanor crimes needs to stop.

The police have a tough, high risk job. They are our first responders when violent citizens break the law. They need to be equipped and trained to professionally manage encounters with criminal behavior, to minimize the danger to the public and to themselves. That said, they also need to be accountable for their actions, and not be given a pass when their conduct is clearly out of line.     

American Exceptionalism

It's amazing to me that so many Americans continue to buy into the myth that because of our citizenship, we are better than everybody else.  This is not a new idea. When white Europeans began immigrating to the American continent,  they carried with them a religious construct known as manifest destiny. In essence, they believed they were superior in every way to the indigenous peoples that have populated this continent for thousands of years.  They used this cultural and religious meme to justify the forced displacement of native Americans from the land they had traditionally occupied. Millions of Indians suffered and died in the process.

This ugly sense of superiority is still a part of the American brand. We are constantly sold the idea that Americans are exceptional compared to the rest of the world. Too many of us, way too many, buy into this self-absorbed perception. The reality: if we are exceptional, it must be based on the amount of arrogance and self-delusion that we harbor compared to the rest of the world.

America Has a White Millennial Problem

This is a very interesting and somewhat troubling picture of young adult America. I don't think the polls are presenting an accurate picture of where most of millennials are politically. I think young people want clean air, reproductive freedom of choice,  and a biosphere that is protected from brutish exploitation by mindless profiteers. 

Maybe young people aren't polling so strongly for Democrats because they recognize that the Democratic Party is part of the problem.  What they want is a progressive alternative that is forward thinking, life-affirming, and sustainable.  To get that, the corruption that is pervasive in American politics must stop.  We need a 28th Amendment that says 'Corporations are not People' and 'Money is not Speech'.  That is the way to energize millennials. Give them a worthy pathway into the future..EMPDX.

Sean McElwee wrote this piece for AlterNet. Nice work Sean...

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

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Salon [1] / By Sean McElwee [2]          

 

December 17, 2014  | 

 

Nearly anytime Democrats lose an election, there is a pervasive narrative that, just around the bend, there will be an “emerging Democratic majority.” Originally projected to occur between [3] 2004 and 2008, it now appears further away than ever after last month’s midterm blowout. Republicans have a stranglehold on the House, where they control [4] their largest number of seats since 1948. That lead will be incredibly tough [5] to chip away at. Democratic chances of regaining the Senate in 2016, once considered a near certainty, are looking iffy [6]. Republicans control 31 governorships, as well as [7] 68 of 98 state legislative chambers. Democrats still have a strong chance of winning the Presidency, but given the importance of the states for shaping income distribution [8] and policy [9], even that victory will ring hollow.

Yet again, the Democratic Party faces bleak governing prospects in the short term, with only the nebulous promise of a demographic windfall somewhere off in the future — and even that prospect should be little comfort to progressives. While the “millennial” generation has widely been seen as the key to future of Democratic successes, there are reasons to believe that the liberalism of millennials, at least on certain key issues, has been overstated.

 

Yes, there is a strong case that younger voters on the whole are more liberal. For instance, a study by the Center for American Progress finds [10] that while the mean American’s ideological position is 209 (with 0 being most conservative and 400 being most progressive), those under 29 score 219.7 (Obama voters scored 244).  But while millennials are more socially liberal across the board, there are stark racial divides on economic issues. Younger voters are more likely than older voters to agree [11] with the statement, “Labor unions are necessary to protect the working person” and “the government should be doing more to solve problems.” These questions, however, are rather vague and positively worded. And other data suggest a large gap between white millenials and millenials of color. For instance, young white men [12] supported Romney in the 2012 election.
White millenials are also significantly less [11] supportive of Obama (54 percent) than black millenials (95 percent) and Hispanic millenials (76 percent). The most recent poll [13] of Obama finds that young whites and older whites have virtually identical approval ratings. A recent Pew survey of millennials finds [14] that on economic issues, there are strong gaps between young whites and young non-white millenials (see chart).
[15]
On social issues, however [14], these gaps are virtually non-existent. This suggests that while social liberalism will continue to be a political winner, economic liberalism may be tougher to sell to white millenials. Additionally, while white millenials say they [16] want to live in a racially equitable society, they are no more likely than their parents [17] to support policies to make that society come about. ”At the same time, whites [18] primed [19] with the reality of growing diversity become are less likely to say they support diversity and more likely to support the Republican party.”
Furthermore, even as minorities make up a larger and larger percentage of the electorate, these racial changes will not inevitably benefit Democrats. While Republicans have never won more than 40 percent of the Latino vote  – the claim  [20]that Bush won 44 percent in 2004, as widely reported, now appears to have been incorrect — they could do so in the future. Pew data, for example, show [21] that third generation Hispanics are more socially liberal, but more economically conservative than older Hispanics.
[22]
Additionally, a recent Gallup poll shows [13] support for Obama among younger Black Americans is modestly lower than support among their older counterparts. This actually hold strue among millenials as a whole; as there appear to be age gaps that would render the Democratic advantage ephemeral. Harvard’s Institute of Politics finds [23] that there is a distinct difference between the way young millenials (18-to-24) and older millenials (25-to-29) view Obama. Meanwhile, a 2012 American University poll finds [24] that college students in swing states supported Obama by 35 points, while high schoolers (13-to-17) in swing states supported Obama over Romney by only 7 points.
Discussing the future always presents challenges, particularly in the realm of politics. However, when we look at the ideologies that shape the parties, we can see a few general trends from these data. First, the economic liberalism of the millenial generation appears to be driven primarily by people of color [25], rather than by younger, more liberal whites. (On social issues, the generation appears to be more liberal across the board.) Second, while millenials lean Democratic, they are still effectively up for grabs. White millenials, the data show, may become suspicious of further government programs to advance racial equality, and young people of color may be open to a Republican party that eschews virulent racism. Finally, electoral structures combined with the geographic locations [26] of Democratic voters will bias the system toward Republicans for at least another decade, and possibly longer.
It’s difficult to know what parties will do to remain viable in a shifting American political landscape. However, it’s by no means certain that a new “Democratic majority” will be an economically liberal one. It’s plausible that the new Democratic party will embrace an Andrew Cuomo-esque neoliberalism. The Democratic party that appears to be emerging will be friendlier to finance and economically conservative, but also very socially liberal, particularly on gay marriage and women’s rights. The Democratic party will be committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions but not at a terrible price to businesses. Public goods will be sold off at bargain basement prices and the safety net will be expanded only slowly, if at all. Both parties will pretend that racial grievances are a thing of the past and present a rosy vision of color-blind America. The ideological distance of both parties on foreign policy will remain where it is today: virtually indistinguishable. This is not inevitable, but what we know about millenials, particularly white ones, suggest this is the most plausible scenario. In the battle for the soul of the Democratic party, millenials might not be on Team Elizabeth Warren.

 

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Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/america-has-white-millennial-problem

Links:
[1] http://www.salon.com
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sean-mcelwee
[3] https://twitter.com/SeanMcElwee/status/542835205548310528
[4] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/12/09/in-the-states-the-gop-is-in-its-best-position-since-the-great-depression/
[5] http://cookpolitical.com/story/8123
[6] http://www.nationalreview.com/article/393732/will-democrats-take-back-senate-2016-michael-barone
[7] http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/11/11/the_other_gop_wave_state_legislatures__124626.html
[8] http://web.utk.edu/~nkelly/papers/inequality/KellyWitko.pdf
[9] http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412635-state-approaches-to-the-tanf-block-grant.pdf
[10] http://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2009/03/pdf/political_ideology.pdf
[11] http://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2009/05/pdf/millennial_generation.pdf
[12] http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/26/young-voters-supported-obama-less-but-may-have-mattered-more/
[13] http://www.gallup.com/poll/179921/obama-loses-support-among-white-millennials.aspx
[14] http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/03/07/chapter-2-generations-and-issues/
[15] http://www.salon.com/2014/12/14/americas_white_millennial_problem_why_the_next_great_generation_might_not_be_a_liberal_one/millennial_1/
[16] https://www.evernote.com/shard/s4/sh/5edc56c3-f8c8-483f-a459-2c47192d0bb8/a0ba0ce883749f4e613d6a6338bb4455
[17] http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/5/917.abstract
[18] http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/02/0956797614527113.abstract
[19] http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/08/13/1948550614546355
[20] http://www.pewhispanic.org/2005/06/27/hispanics-and-the-2004-election/
[21] http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/04/04/v-politics-values-and-religion/
[22] http://www.salon.com/2014/12/14/americas_white_millennial_problem_why_the_next_great_generation_might_not_be_a_liberal_one/screen_shot_2014_12_12_at_8_55_48_pm/
[23] http://iop.harvard.edu/blog/iop-releases-new-fall-poll-5-key-findings-and-trends-millennial-viewpoints#sthash.Yk1PMHLA.dpuf.
[24] http://www.american.edu/media/news/20121101_poll_obama_romney.cfm
[25] http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/11/19/midterm_demographics_didnt_sink_the_democrats_124701.html
[26] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/upshot/why-democrats-cant-win.html
[27] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on America Has a White Millennial Problem
[28] http://www.alternet.org/tags/race
[29] http://www.alternet.org/tags/millennials
[30] http://www.alternet.org/tags/economy-0
[31] http://www.alternet.org/tags/generation
[32] http://www.alternet.org/tags/republican-0
[33] http://www.alternet.org/tags/democrat
[34] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B






 

Man Prayer

This is an extraordinary short video written by Eve Ensler, one of the brightest lights in the feminine galaxy.

This very engaging video has a lot to say, particularly to males of the species.  My gender has had its hand on the throttle and steering since people left caves for permanent settlements.  Often,  humanity has advanced, not because of  male dominance, but mostly in spite of the things men have done. Until very recently, women have been dominated by men and subjected to many forms of violence and mistreatment. They have been deprived of education, and in some societies, reduced to a form of property. 

In recent years, in the more developed nations of the world, woman have made great strides. In the U.S., women have fought for and, to a great extent,  attained  equality and access to education and opportunity.

That's not say the battle is won for women.  There are still conservative voices that want to limit women's reproductive choice and their right to be who they wish to be.  There are still too many lesser developed nations in the world where women's rights remain pretty much non-existent.

Eve Ensler is one of the world's most important voices on equality and women's issues. The group she founded, V-Day, has become a global force.  With V-day, the principle focus is on ending violence against women by men. V-day is everywhere these days, but its work in Africa and the Congo in particular, is particularly notable and inspiring.

Eve Ensler is a creative genius and a treasure to humanity.   This 'Man Prayer' video is a powerful reflection of V-Day's effort to engage men and encourage them to join with women to remake the world in a manner that is life affirming and sustainable.

In V-Day parlance,  I am a V-man.

You guys that are not already in the club, I have to ask, 'What are you waiting for?'   If a man wants women to appreciate him, it starts with treating them with compassion and respect. 

Here is a link to the V-day website...  http://www.vday.org/


 

Why Elizabeth Warren Should be the Next President of the United States

In her own words, Senator Warren speaks to Netroots Nation Conference and lays out what she stands for.  She is the leader that we desperately need to be the next President of the United States.

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Here is the link...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDOsAAwTKes

FDR's Second Bill of Rights

Toward the end of World War Two, the American President,  Franklin Delano Roosevelt  (FDR) proposed what he called a 'Second Bill of Rights', designed to assure a decent post-war society in which no one was left out.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

 President Roosevelt called for the following 'Rights'  to be part of  his  Second Bill of Rights.  It was a very ambitious vision. Aspects of it are now part of life in America, but most remain elusive.

Here is a summary of FDR's 'Second Bill of Human Rights, which he called "a new basis of security and prosperity for all".'


The right to a job with a wage adequate to provide shelter, food, clothing, and recreation

The right of every farmer to a decent return for his product

The right of every family to a decent home.

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade freely at home and abroad

The right of every citizen to adequate medical care

The right to adequate protection from fear of old age, sickness, or unemployment

The right to a good education



A high percentage of the politicians in public life these days re little more than craven opportunists.  The only one I see on the current scene that reflects some of Roosevelt's bold vision, courage, and decency is Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.  She would be my choice to succeed Barak Obama.  

Here is a link to an old film of FDR delivering a radio broadcast telling the American people about his  'Second Bill of Rights'  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EZ5bx9AyI4

The War on Thanksgiving

In recent years, the arrival of the holiday season has brought with it a chorus of right-wing lunacy about a so-called 'war on Christmas'.  Their proof for this vacuous bloat of blarney: people these days are ever more prone to greet each other with a 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'.  Well, jeeze, what a terrible thing.  Conservative extremists take this as an affront to Christianity.  In reality, this change of greeting seems to be much more about acknowledging that there are other religious traditions celebrating at this time of year - Chanukah for instance.  'Happy Holidays' also seems more appropriate for people who appreciate the celebratory nature of the season,  without the religious connotation. I count myself in that group.

While the war on Christmas may be a sham, the assault on Thanksgiving is very real.  You see it in the expansion of 'Black Friday', the 'Holy Grail' of retail sales. 

Here is a chart that shows just how insane the competition among retailers has become for holiday sales revenue.

I found this chart with an article that just appeared on the 'Mother Jones' webpage.  Stores are expanding their business hours ever more to capture a bigger slice of the 'Black Friday' fever. Thanksgiving is about quiet celebration and good wishes with family ad friends. That's how it's supposed to be and still is for many of us. But there is no denying the intrusiveness of commerce and consumption. Retail chains are now opening for business on Thanksgiving Day as a way of gaining an edge on the competition.

The consumer merchandising engine depends on sales during the holidays. That's how the economy is shaped. Retailers need it to survive. They need to sell stuff to an American public that has less and less to spend. There's something wrong with that equation. 

If Wall Street and big business want to improve the economy, instead of expanding business hours on Thanksgiving, they might want to stop squeezing the life out of the jobs market and start playing living wages to the working poor.  In other words, what we really need is a war on greed.

The Central African Republic - Disaster Fatigue, Take Two

Here is a story that is getting no attention at all in the western news media.   The public is almost entirely unaware of the human tragedy in the Central African Republic.   The media fails to report it. It's out of sight, out of mind. Unspeakable cruelty and suffering swept under the rug; an inconvenient truth we prefer to ignore. Just another example of disaster fatigue.  

Truthfully, as painful as this kind of thing is to consider,  indifference is the easiest way to cope for those of us observing from a distance.  The plight of the Central African Republic is just one of a burgeoning number of places in the world that have been overwhelmed.  They are real time, contemporary examples of the many faces of disaster fatigue that beg for a global response that is comprehensive and life affirming rather than the limited response we offer, which is reactionary at best.

It is shameful that the world places no real value on these people that are suffering and dying, and the parts of the natural world that they occupy.  Quite simply, the scale of disaster these days, the number of people caught up in it, the cost of corrective action, is overwhelming.   It is overwhelming.

I like to think that, as humans, we can do better;  I think to think we can reshape our values and our world to treat every person, every creature, every stretch of our biosphere as though they have value. Humanity needs a reboot, before it's too late.


_________________________ 


Published on Tuesday, November 26, 2013 by Common Dreams

With Scant Media Attention, 'Human Catastrophe of Epic Proportions' Unfolding

UN, humanitarian groups warn of spiraling crisis in the Central African Republic

- Andrea Germanos, staff writer

People fleeing conflict in the Central African Republic. (Photo: UNHCR/ B. Heger)A situation described as a "human catastrophe of epic proportions" is underway in the Central African Republic (CAR), yet has failed to garner widespread media attention.


On Monday, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson warned that the impoverished nation was "descending into complete chaos before our eyes.”

Describing the current turmoil in the country, the New York Times reports:

The situation has deteriorated dramatically since a coup in late March overthrew the president, François Bozizé, and installed a new president, Michel Djotodia, who was supported by an alliance of guerrilla fighters known as the Seleka, drawn from neighboring nations and the Central African Republic. Since then, the new government’s formal and informal forces have wreaked havoc or stood by while militia groups destroyed homes and carried out extrajudicial killings, torture and rape, according to human rights groups. [...]
Both the former government of Mr. Bozizé and the current one of Mr. Djotodia, which is backed by the Seleka, are accused of serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and torture, according to a report released in September by Human Rights Watch.
However, since the beginning of 2013, many of the abuses of civilians have been carried out in Seleka-dominated territory, according to the report. Tensions are heightened by religious differences between members of the Seleka, who are Muslims, and the predominantly Christian populace, which is increasingly defended by armed Christian groups.

In response to the increasing violence, France’s Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed on Tuesday his country was preparing to send "about 1,000" troops to the former colony. Those troops are in addition to approximately 2,600 troops deployed by the African Union, ostensibly to protect civilains.

Doctors Without Borders/MSF has warned of "horrific violence" gripping the country plagued by a chronic humanitarian and health emergency.

“We are extremely concerned about the living conditions of the displaced, whether overcrowded in churches, mosques or schools or invisible, living in the bush with no access to healthcare, food or water and threatened by epidemics. Much more needs to be done and it needs to be done now," stated Sylvain Groulx, MSF Head of Mission in CAR.

Amnesty International sounded alarm as well, stating that a "human catastrophe of epic proportions" was underway in the central African country.

“The crisis is spinning out of control, despite the fact that it has been ignored by the international community for far too long,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
"There was a time when a humanitarian disaster on this scale would have had the world’s press swarming all over it, or at least received a due amount of attention," wrote Martin Bell in the UK's Independent.  "Sadly, not here and not now."

Meanwhile, on Monday, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, a thousand women staged a protest in the CAR's capital city of Bangui. The women, whose mouths were taped over in protest of violence against women, held placards reading, “Stop violence against women. I am not an object,” and “No to murders, torture, rape.”



 

In 17 States, More than Half the School Kids Are Poor

Think that's astonishing? Check out the map below.  It's amazing. All but a handful of states have  more than 40% of students living in households with incomes below 185% of the poverty level.  That's the official definition of what is considered poor in this country.  It's shameful, and so much of it is due to political neglect.  In Europe, almost no kids in school are considered poor. 

I was shocked but not surprised when I saw the report below.

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In 17 U.S. states, the majority of public school students are low-income. But the poverty isn’t distributed evenly across the country, according to a new report from Southern Education Foundation. Thirteen of the states are in the South, and the other four are in the West.

The situation is dire. Researchers measure the landscape by the numbers of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch, a rough proxy for gauging poverty. Students are eligible for free or reduced meals if their family household income is 185 percent beneath the poverty threshold. In 2011, a student from a single-parent home with an annual income of $26,956 or less would qualify for free or reduced lunch. In Mississippi, 71 percent of public school students qualify for free and reduced lunch. In New Mexico it’s 68 percent; in California 54; in Texas it’s 50 percent.
The recession that began in 2008 certainly exacerbated trends, but childhood poverty is a problem much older than the recession. Between 2001 and 2011, the numbers of children in public schools who classified as low-income grew 32 percent, or by some 5.7 million kids. As a result, by 2011 low-income students made up nearly half of all public school students.
While 30 percent of white students attend schools where the majority of students are low-income, 68 percent of Latino students attend schools classified as such. And 72 percent of black public school students go to schools where the majority of students are low-income.

The situation has serious implications for the educational futures of the nation’s youth, especially as budget-crisis-stricken cities and states are cutting first and deepest from their public schools.

From colorlines.com
Reporter - Julie Anne Hing

Here is a link to the full report...   http://www.southerneducation.org/Programs/P-12-Program/Early-Ed/NewMajority.aspx

Twilight of the Elites

Just finished reading Chris Hayes'  book, Twilight of the Elites: America after Meritocracy.   The idea behind the book is rooted in human nature and is pretty self-evident. It is this: People like to get ahead, and when they do, they like to stay ahead.  In America we have evolved a meritocracy to provide opportunity for the best and brightest to achieve the American dream. At least, that's the way it's supposed to work.

Chris Hayes is a very skilled wordsmith. Combine that with a very compelling and well researched argument,  you get a terrific book.   Twilight of the Elites is a terrific book.

At this point, I'm going to defer to some quotes pulled right from the book, interspersed  with some thoughts of my own.

'...the iron law of meritocracy (predicts) that societies ordered around the meritocratic will produce inequality without the attendant mobility ideal... over time, a society will grow both more unequal and less mobile as those who ascend its heights create means of  preserving and defending their privilege and find ways to pass it on across generations.'

This is not rocket science. Kings, Emperors, and war lords have been operating this way since the beginnings of agriculture, 10,000 years ago.  Elites entrench themselves in positions of power and privilege and  they stay there by any means necessary. In the world we live in, it's people like the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson, who wield their power and influence to maintain the status quo that favors them while diminishing the masses.

'...one of the lessons of the (past decades) is that intensively competitive, high reward meritocratic environments are prone to produce all kinds of fraud, deception, conniving, and game rigging.'

'...we cannot have a just society that applies the principle of accountability to the powerless and the principle of forgiveness to the powerful. This is the America in which we currently reside.'

'While the basic logic of democracy is one person one vote, our entire system of representation  heavily weights the preferences and interests of those with the most money.'

'...in the three decades after 1979, the top 10 percent captured all of the income gains, while incomes for the bottom 90% declined.

'The challenge, and it is not a small one, is directing the frustration, anger, and alienation we all feel into building a trans-ideological coalition that can actually dislodge the power of the post-meritocratic elite.'

So, corrective action is required; disruptive corrective action.  Where to focus the attention of the disaffected to deliver meaningful change?  In Twilight of the Elites, Chris Hayes talks about building coalitions across ideologies; bringing the disaffected tea party types together with  progressive change agents  like the 'Occupy Wall Streeters' to disrupt the gravy train the elite have created for themselves. That's a tall order to be sure.  This is where Hayes' book falls a bit short.  He talks about altering the code for income taxes and about restoring the estate tax  to reduce the extreme advantage people like Paris Hilton gain through massive inherited wealth. Problem is the already wealthy are experts at using their money and influence to thwart any efforts to undermine their dominant position.

How to get around this problem?  The answer to me is not complicated.  You have to disrupt the ability of the elites to use their wealth to get what they want. The way to do that is to get the underwhelming masses of people affected to focus on one straightforward action that would induce the change that is so badly needed. I'm talking about a constitutional amendment that eliminates 'corporate personhood and the idea that 'money equals free speech'.  These two corrupt legal constructs  are the foundation on which rests the perverse reality that  'he who has the money makes the rules.'

A group called 'Move to Amend' is pressing for just such an amendment. It's language is brief and unambiguous...

House Joint Resolution 29 introduced February 14, 2013

Section 1. [Artificial Entities Such as Corporations Do Not Have Constitutional Rights]

The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only.
Artificial entities established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law.

The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.

Section 2. [Money is Not Free Speech]

Federal, State, and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions and expenditures, to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process, and that no person gains, as a result of their money, substantially more access or ability to influence in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure.

Federal, State, and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed.

The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.

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Here is a link to Move to Amend's webpage...   https://movetoamend.org/

One Third of All Women Are Victims of Violence

One out of three women are victims of violence, according to a new study by the World Health Organization. That is an astonishing number, a truly astonishing number; shameful and entirely unacceptable.

In many traditional cultures,  women are still treated like chattel,  denied education, considered valuable only for the work they can do and the children they can birth. 

Attention cavemen for whom misogyny is the norm.  Get real dudes. Loving women, nurturing them, giving them the respect and the access to opportunities they are entitled to is a whole lot more satisfying than hurting them, degrading them, or causing them to suffer in any way.    

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WHO report highlights violence against women as a ‘global health problem of epidemic proportions’

New clinical and policy guidelines launched to guide health sector response

News release

20 June 2013 | Geneva - Physical or sexual violence is a public health problem that affects more than one third of all women globally, according to a new report released by WHO in partnership with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the South African Medical Research Council.
The report, Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence, represents the first systematic study of global data on the prevalence of violence against women – both by partners and non-partners. Some 35% of all women will experience either intimate partner or non-partner violence. The study finds that intimate partner violence is the most common type of violence against women, affecting 30% of women worldwide.
The study highlights the need for all sectors to engage in eliminating tolerance for violence against women and better support for women who experience it. New WHO guidelines, launched with the report, aim to help countries improve their health sector’s capacity to respond to violence against women.

Impact on physical and mental health

The report details the impact of violence on the physical and mental health of women and girls. This can range from broken bones to pregnancy-related complications, mental problems and impaired social functioning.
“These findings send a powerful message that violence against women is a global health problem of epidemic proportions,” said Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, WHO. “We also see that the world’s health systems can and must do more for women who experience violence.”
The report’s key findings on the health impacts of violence by an intimate partner were:

• Death and injury – The study found that globally, 38% of all women who were murdered were murdered by their intimate partners, and 42% of women who have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a partner had experienced injuries as a result.
• Depression – Partner violence is a major contributor to women’s mental health problems, with women who have experienced partner violence being almost twice as likely to experience depression compared to women who have not experienced any violence.
• Alcohol use problems – Women experiencing intimate partner violence are almost twice as likely as other women to have alcohol-use problems.
• Sexually transmitted infections – Women who experience physical and/or sexual partner violence are 1.5 times more likely to acquire syphilis infection, chlamydia, or gonorrhoea. In some regions (including sub-Saharan Africa), they are 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV.
• Unwanted pregnancy and abortion – Both partner violence and non-partner sexual violence are associated with unwanted pregnancy; the report found that women experiencing physical and/or sexual partner violence are twice as likely to have an abortion than women who do not experience this violence.
• Low birth-weight babies – Women who experience partner violence have a 16% greater chance of having a low birth-weight baby.

“This new data shows that violence against women is extremely common. We urgently need to invest in prevention to address the underlying causes of this global women’s health problem.” said Professor Charlotte Watts, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Need for better reporting and more attention to prevention

Fear of stigma prevents many women from reporting non-partner sexual violence. Other barriers to data collection include the fact that fewer countries collect this data than information about intimate partner violence, and that many surveys of this type of violence employ less sophisticated measurement approaches than those used in monitoring intimate partner violence.
“The review brings to light the lack of data on sexual violence by perpetrators other than partners, including in conflict-affected settings,” said Dr Naeemah Abrahams from the SAMRC. “We need more countries to measure sexual violence and to use the best survey instruments available.”
In spite of these obstacles, the review found that 7.2% of women globally had reported non-partner sexual violence. As a result of this violence, they were 2.3 times more likely to have alcohol disorders and 2.6 times more likely to suffer depression or anxiety – slightly more than women experiencing intimate partner violence.
The report calls for a major scaling up of global efforts to prevent all kinds of violence against women by addressing the social and cultural factors behind it.

Recommendations to the health sector

The report also emphasizes the urgent need for better care for women who have experienced violence. These women often seek health-care, without necessarily disclosing the cause of their injuries or ill-health.
“The report findings show that violence greatly increases women’s vulnerability to a range of short- and long-term health problems; it highlights the need for the health sector to take violence against women more seriously,” said Dr Claudia Garcia-Moreno of WHO. “In many cases this is because health workers simply do not know how to respond.”
New WHO clinical and policy guidelines released today aim to address this lack of knowledge. They stress the importance of training all levels of health workers to recognize when women may be at risk of partner violence and to know how to provide an appropriate response.
They also point out that some health-care settings, such as antenatal services and HIV testing, may provide opportunities to support survivors of violence, provided certain minimum requirements are met.

• Health providers have been trained how to ask about violence.
• Standard operating procedures are in place.
• Consultation takes place in a private setting.
• Confidentiality is guaranteed.
• A referral system is in place to ensure that women can access related services.
• In the case of sexual assault, health care settings must be equipped to provide the comprehensive response women need – to address both physical and mental health consequences.

The report’s authors stress the importance of using these guidelines to incorporate issues of violence into the medical and nursing curricula as well as during in-service training.
WHO will begin to work with countries in South-East Asia to implement the new recommendations at the end of June. The Organization will partner with ministries of health, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and sister United Nations agencies to disseminate the guidelines, and support their adaptation and use.

Notes to Editors:

In March 2013, Dr Chan joined the UN Secretary General and the heads of other UN entities in a call for zero tolerance for violence against women at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York. During the Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly in May 2013, seven governments - Belgium, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, United States of America, and Zambia - declared violence against women and girls "a major global public health, gender equality and human rights challenge, touching every country and every part of society" and proposed the issue should appear on the agenda of the Sixty-seventh World Health Assembly.

For more information please contact:

Fadéla Chaib
WHO
Telephone: +41 22 791 3228
Mobile: +41 79 475 5556
E-mail: chaibf@who.int
Jenny Orton/Katie Steels
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7927 2802
E-mail: press@lshtm.ac.uk
Keletso Ratsela
South African Medical Research Council
Telephone: +27 12 339 8500, +27 82 804 8883
E-mail: Keletso.Ratsela@mrc.ac.za

About the report

The report was developed by WHO, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the South African Medical Research Council. It is the first systematic review and synthesis of the body of scientific data on the prevalence of two forms of violence against women – violence by an intimate partner and sexual violence by someone other than an intimate partner. It shows for the first time, aggregated global and regional prevalence estimates of these two forms of violence, generated using population data from all over the world that have been compiled in a systematic way. The report documents the effects of violence on women’s physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health. This was based on systematic reviews looking at data on the association between the different forms of violence considered and specific health outcomes.

Hans Rosling - Wealth Equals Health

This is the second entry I have done on Hans Rosling,  Professor of International Health at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, and charismatic purveyor of civilizational scale data for Gapminder.

Hans Rosling

 

Here is a link to Rosling's very engaging video presentation correlating income and health...http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jbkSRLYSojo

National Intervention

The following is the mission statement of a political action group focused on the core changes the world, and particularly the U.S., desperately needs.

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The Statement

The National Intervention Statement

We understand that corporations are not people, but those who do their bidding are people.

We understand that these people are largely addicted to power.

We understand that the power to which they are addicted has been used, then abused, and has become an addiction too overwhelming for those addicted to likely stop or help themselves from their destructive actions while under the influence.

We understand that power in a capitalist society comes largely from wealth, and that all wealth is generated by our labor and our consumption.

We understand that those afflicted with this addiction to corporate power have an opportunity to “kick the habit” but that most addicts cannot simply stop, even when they feel out of control, even when they hate themselves for their slavery to their master addiction.

We understand that those addicted to power have shown remarkable evidence that they are too blinded by the pursuit of the next fix to quit “cold turkey,” and that the destruction caused by their addiction may have us hitting rock-bottom before they do.

We understand that in the life of any sufferer of addiction, all of those in the addict’s life are part of a system that supports the addiction until they choose to change that unhealthy dynamic in their relationship to the sufferer.

We understand that it is almost guaranteed that an Intervention will be required by those whose labor and consumption provides the substance of wealth that fuels this addiction.

We understand that there is an addiction cycle at the root of the corruption, that we, in part, enable the violence against us, our communities and our planet as the disease worsens in the addict, as we continue to submit to the Gross Domestic Violence.

We understand that when we continue to participate in our relationship to an addict who refuses to rehabilitate, we continue to provide the substance of wealth in the system of addiction.

We understand that this only perpetuates and deepens a toxic cycle of codependence and social, personal, interpersonal, spiritual, psychological, ecological and structural violence.

We understand and accept that those in power may choose to end their addiction with a constitutional amendment that ends corporate personhood, establishes that money is not speech, and makes all political campaigns only publicly funded, but that those addicted will likely fight ferociously against the process that takes away their substance.

We affirm that our next real step after offering those addicted to power the chance to check themselves out of power and into recovery is a National Intervention until corporate interests are once again aligned with the interests of the natural people and their natural habitat.



Here is a link to the National Intervention website   http://nationalintervention.org/

One Billion Rising

On Thursday, February 14th, women and men around the world will make their voices heard. One Billion Rising, an initiative launched by the global non-profit V-Day will celebrate women and call for an end to violence against women and girls everywhere.  This effort, led by Eve Ensler, founder of  V-Day, will showcase people on every continent demanding full rights and equality for women.

My wife and I enthusiastically support V-Day and One Billion Rising.   Full equality for women and an end to misogynistic behavior toward them is an absolute requirement for evolving a human society that is fair and sustainable over the long term.  On Valentine's Day, February 14th,  we will stand firmly with the one billion souls around the world who are rising.

Here is a link to the One Billion Rising website...http://onebillionrising.org/

Here is a link to a brief video about the event...http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gl2AO-7Vlzk

Enough is Enough - Book Review

Yesterday I posted a piece with excerpts from a new book titled,  Enough is Enough.  The book makes the case that the economy we have must change. It requires constant growth to thrive, and that is no longer possible.

Anyway, I got a copy of this book Enough is Enough, and I just finished reading it. The facts seem irrefutable.

Humanity's ecological footprint is 50 percent larger than global ecosystems can accommodate. We can only continue consuming at our current rate by liquidating the planet's natural resources and overwhelming its waste absorption capacity.

Economists Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill, the book's authors,  say that humanity must learn to live within its means, and that requires a transition to what they call a 'steady-state' economy. What is a steady-state economy?
 
A steady state economy is an economy with ENOUGH as its goal. It prioritizes well-being over consumption. 

The four main features of a steady-state economy are:  sustainable scale; fair distribution of income and wealth; efficient allocation of limited resources; and a high quality of life for all citizens.

Dietz and O'Neill offer a well-considered set of ideas and policy steps that can lead to a world that provides Enough for all without breaking the biosphere.

Here's the rub.  We currently have a seriously dysfunctional economic system that exploits the many in favor of a very small number of rich and powerful plutocrats.  Right now, in the U.S., the richest one half of one percent have more wealth than the bottom forty percent of Americans combined. We have a political system that feeds on money.  He who has the money makes the rules and controls the institutions that shape society.  That's how it is. The current economy works very well for rich folks and the sycophants that serve them. The wealthy control industry, finance, the media, the military, and our system of governance, including the congress and the judiciary.  They have manipulated these institutions to serve their narrow, self-aggrandizing worldview.  These  'powers-that-be' are not interested in changing. The systems they have shaped suit them just fine.  They are in total denial about the consequences of the constant-growth economic paradigm that they aggressively pursue.

Enough is Enough is an important book.  The authors acknowledge that supplanting the current, constant growth order will be extremely difficult.  They say it will likely take a serious crisis to facilitate change. They say that educating the masses about the virtues of steady-state economics is critical. Until the grass roots understands that there is a socially and environmentally responsible alternative to business as usual, the only thing that is assured is continued human suffering and continued erosion of the biosphere.   The entrenched sociopaths that champion the current system know they are under assault, They employ every malodorous tool at their disposal to resist  any kind of meaningful change.  

Humans depend on the natural world for survival. An economy built on steady state principles is an economy that resonates with that dependence.  

Enough is Enough contributes mightily to the dialogue needed to create the powerful, broad based grass roots movement that must come in order to force rich and mighty self-interests to yield to a new, steady state economic order.

Rob Dietz is the Director of the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy.  The link to their website is  http://steadystate.org/

Idle No More

Idle No More is a mass movement that started with the indigeous peoples of Canada, who are generally referred to as the First Nations.  Their principle focus is the grossly destructive mining of tar sands in Northern Alberta.  What started with the First Nations expanded quickly to the Native American communities of the U.S., and indigeous peoples around the world. Moreover, the focus  now covers a broad range of deeply destructive public policies that are doing incalculable harm to the only planet we have.

What is the difference between Idle No More and the 99ers?  It seems principly to be with the focus.  The 99ers were about economic unfairness and political corruption.  Idle No More, while related, has a broader focus with resistance against environmental destruction at its core. 

An article published on January 16, 2013 on the Common Dreams webpage included the following description of the Idle No More movement.

Idler No More Co-founder Attawapiskat Chief Theresa has said...

The grassroots movement of Idle No More is the face of all grassroots people...The founders might be considered guides or maintaining the vision, but Idle No More has no leader or official spokesperson.

A recent press release on the Official Idle No More website echoed this sentiment:

This movement has been guided by Spiritual Elders, dreams, visions, and from peoples’ core values. We are here to ensure the land, the waters, the air, and the creatures and indeed each of us, return to balance and discontinue harming each other and the earth.

I love that indigenous people are stepping up and standing up for the natural world. Their core values allow them to fight the 'powers that be' from the moral highground.   As their voices are heard, these indigenous people will inspire more and more people to join them in protecting the natural commons we all depend on... I hope.

The Congo and Conflict Minerals

Do you know what's in your cellphone? Are you aware that it contains something called conflict minerals?   Columbite and tantalite, aka coltan are rare earth ores from which which a mineral called tantalum is extracted. Tantalum is used to produce the high performance capacitors used in cellphones and some other digital electronic devices.

One of the largest nations geographically on Earth is in East Central Africa. It is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nearly as large in size as all of Europe combined, the Congo was once called the Belgian Congo.  It got that name in the 19th century when Leopold, Emperor of the European nation of Belgium, claimed the Congo, not for his nation, but for himself.

Since gaining its independence from European rule in 1960, the Congo, though nominally democratic, has been controlled by one despotic leader after another. The rule of law is mostly absent, particularly in the Eastern Congo.

The Congo is a nation rich in natural resources.  For the last two decades, it has also been a place of near constant armed conflict and genocide driven largely by the global electronics industry's demand for tantalum.  At least half of the places in the Eastern Congo where coltan is being mined are under the control of one armed group or another.  These armed groups brutalize the local people, forcing them to work in makeshift mines, where they often end up digging up the precious mineral ore using hand tools and even bare hands. 

A particularly ugly factor in the violence and brutality associated with these conflict minerals is the inter-tribal ethnic tensions that result in a high incidence of murder, rape, and exploitation.  Some estimates suggest as many as six million Congolese have been murdered over the past two decades in this ongoing war for minerals. That number is controversial, with other estimates putting the number closer to a million.   

As we begin 2013, the violence in the Congo continues.   Each of us that relies on a cellphone for everyday communication has an indirect but tangible connection to this ugliness.  Because it is happening on the other side of the world, for most of us it is 'out of sight, out of mind'.  What can we do you ask.  A good start would be to demand a certification process that requires importers of these so called conflict minerals to account for where the raw ore comes from.  Eliminating the market for illegally procured coltan would be a big step toward moderating the 'resource wars' in the Congo.

Coltan Ore

The Enough Project is one of many non-profit advocacy organizations that focus on the causes and consequences of the ongoing wars in the Congo.

Here is a link to a paper produced by The Enough Project that identifies the need for a certification process for resources designated as conflict minerals. http://www.enoughproject.org/certification

Mass Murder and the American Culture

Yesterday, a young man with mental problems drove to a primary school in Newtown, Connecticut  with two handguns and a military assault weapon. He went into two classrooms and killed 20 children, none older than seven years.  He also killed six adults, including the school's principal.

Two days earlier, right here in Portland, Oregon where we live, another mentally disturbed young man opened fire in a shopping mall filled with Christmas shoppers. Just months ago, yet another  unbalanced fool killed a bunch of people in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

America is the murder capital of the world. Something over 30 men, women, and children are killed in acts of violence every single day in this country, many with guns.  Why?  Why is mass murder a particularly American brand of insanity? To me, it comes down to three things: inadequate care for mental Illness,  lax gun control, and cultural signals that celebrate violent behavior.  Probably a lot of people would agree with that assessment. It's doesn't seem like rocket science.

It would be easy to blame the National Rifle Association for the gun mayhem that plagues our society. The NRA certainly is culpable to some degree.  Wayne LaPierre, the sociopath that runs that organization, is an extremist to the core. He wields the considerable political power of the NRA like a club to intimidate politicians who open themselves to even the slightest possibility of reasonable gun regulation. Why is LaPierre and why is the NRA so seriously reactionary when a poll indicates that three of four members of the NRA are open to thoughtfully applied gun control?  I believe it comes down to this: Wayne LaPierre's first loyalty is to the firearms industry, not to the NRA's individual gun owner members.   LaPierre is most interested in keeping markets open and unencumbered for guns and ammunition.   NRA members need to stand up and demand new leadership.  The NRA should be representing member rights, not those of businesses that profit selling assault weapons, and hollow-point ammunition, and oversized cartridge clips.

Another big problem: inadequate care for mental Illness. States have traditionally carried the burden for public oversight of mentally ill people. These days, too many people suffering from schizophrenia and other mental diseases are left to fend for themselves.  Since the 1980s when Reagan Republicans began their 'smaller government' drumbeat,  states have found themselves with ever less money and political will to take care of those with mental illness.  These days, people who are indigent with mental troubles often end up on the streets. If the states don't provide adequate support and oversight of  people with mental illness, who will?  Who protects the public from the kind of mayhem a schizophrenic individual with a gun can unleash on society?  So many of these mass murder situations are caused by people who should be under closely monitored care.   Conservatives have squeezed the life out of government programs designed to deal with this kind of societal threat.  Instead of pissing away money on aircraft carriers and other weapons systems we don't need, we need to rethink our public funding priorities, focusing on the things that affect the life of every citizen. I have no problem paying a bit more in taxes if it means nut cases capable of mass murder will get adequate treatment before they resort to violent acts of insanity.

Violence is an intoxicant in our culture. From the sports we play on athletic fields to the games we play on our computers and iphones, the lesson we learn is that survival is about destroying your opponent. I'm not sure there is much that can be done to insulate people against violence in sports and entertainment.  What we can do a lot better is teach our children important lessons on conflict resolution...ability to compromise...willingness to see issues from the perspective of others...recognizing that violence has no place in solving real world problems. 

As citizens, we bear ultimate responsibility.  When important issues are on the table, we have an obligation to inform ourselves.  We can't do what too many of us are doing; that is to allow ourselves to be swayed by the propaganda and bullshit arguments from special interest groups like the National Rifle Association.  You don't look to the fox for answers about how to guard the hen house.

At the end of the day, we depend on the politicians we elect to provide leadership. Mass gun murder must not be tolerated. A proper and concerted political response is required. Nothing less should be accepted.  President Obama needs to show some spine and step up. Our Senators and Congressional delegates need to step up.  They need to ignore the NRA's intimidation game and do what's right for society. If they fail us, they need to be replaced. We need to support candidates for office that will do the right thing. It's on us, all of us, to make sure every effort is made to protect children from being victims of senseless gun violence.