I did send him a note asking for his position on mountaintop removal.  So far, I’m not impressed with him. He thinks CO2 isn’t dangerous because it’s essential to life, and doesn’t seem to understand the science behind CO2 and global warming and associated climate change.  He needs to watch Bill Gates’ approachable TED talk on the subject.

Or maybe Mr Howard is smarter than Bill Gates!  That’d be nice to know!

Anyway, my litmus test issue this year is mountaintop removal for coal mining.  That just has to stop. It’s not reasonable to trade something relatively permanent (a mountain) for something temporary (coal for a few months).   I’ll let you know what his website says when he gets back to me!  And if he doesn’t… he’ll get a nice bumpersticker on the back of my car.

Jake, please drop the automated machine phone calls.  There’s REASON why we consumers don’t LIKE THEM.  I do expect a personal reply now.  Personal.  From YOU, Mr. Howard, not from one of your aides.

Thanks!

Mike

It’s nice to see that someone else thinks this too! Though it’s a bit vague:

The United States last month announced $150 million in military assistance for Yemen to fight extremists. In contrast, it costs just $50 to send a girl to public school for a year — and little girls like Nujood may prove more effective than missiles at defeating terrorists.

That appears in a New York Times article about Nujood and her new book about being ten years old, and divorced, in Yemen.

I’ve never thought about how mistreatment of women could be tied to extremism.  There’s a loose connection between the poor education of women and polygamy.  If you have lots of households with one husband and two wives, then you have lots of single, desperate men.   Which in turn feeds a male-dominated culture where education of women is supressed.   Perhaps that is a simplistic presentation, but sometimes simple is good.

But one thing seems clear to me:  Books, not bombs, give the loudest and longest lasting boom!

“We’re so glad you came to worship with us this morning.  What brings you to Mount Zion today?”

“Well, my class full of mostly white teacher wannabes wanted me to come down and see what it’s like to be a minority.  So I’m here!  I’m a minority!”

That sounds SO BAD.  The truth is, I’ve always wanted to visit this church.  I love the worship style of African American congregations.  My kids are going with me.  Not to see the show.  Not to “be the minority” either.  But to dive in to a worship experience with a genuine, loving heart.

So I was looking up directions and came across Google’s street view of this beautiful old church:

Mount Zion Baptist Church - beautiful buildings - Wires courtesy of the City of Asheville and serving utilities.

Yeah so…. I’m embarrassed.  It’s the wires.  The beautiful architecture, replete with rich history and a heritage of a struggling people are still bound by the cables of discrimination.  We need to get this cleaned up.  I hate wires in general, but to have them mar such a public building, such a historical site, is disgraceful.  DISGRACEFUL.  On Monday a letter to the government of Asheville goes out.  It’s not much, but it’s something.

]]> http://www.shatuga.com/2010/02/20/beauty-is-still-bound/feed/ 2 http://www.shatuga.com/2010/01/17/106/ http://www.shatuga.com/2010/01/17/106/#comments Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:15:44 +0000 shatuga http://www.shatuga.com/2010/01/17/106/ Multicultural Quiz – Response

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/quiz/quiz1.htm

My first feelings were frustration at being asked to differentiate between statistics as absolute numbers and not as relative values. But then I began to focus on the questions, rather than the answers, realizing that the answers were not so much the point.

Rather, the point is that the perception of the condition of our nation very much differs from the reality, and that our culture maintains and even furthers a wide disparity between class, race, wealth,and orientation.

It makes me sick, frankly.  I am recalling a conversation with a friend who works with lawyers and is helping a judge run for election, and we were discussing why it is that so few judges are ever contested in their elections.  The fact is that most lawyers don’t want to give up their high salaries to serve as judges, because they would trade wealth for power.

I am deeply saddened by the statistics that this quiz uncovers.  And I believe it’s time to become more assertive, more of an advocate for the disenfranchised and underserved, and more vocal about speaking out against the horrible bias in wealth distribution as well as the inequities in law enforcement that are indicative of a sick, perverted culture that advocates luxuriant wealth and self-interest over the well-being of the “huddled masses” that our statue of Liberty requests come to this place.

I am appalled by the lack of social responsibility of companies and the wealthy in our country, and that people actually stand for this. As a shareholder, I’m outraged.  As a citizen, I am too!  Add to that the fact that Republicans are whining (yes, whining) about the increase in Medicare tax on people who make more than $200,000 a year……  I’m sorry. Pay your share, people.  We all built this great nation of ours together.  If your stake in our nation’s profits is that high, your responsibility should be high as well!

Off the top of my head I can think of a hundred thousand lives that would be changed by a gift of half of that money.  Come on, George H.W. Bush, open up your trickle down spigot a bit more, please!