Traditionally non-political TED talks about the economy, and how the super rich are making it worse by calling themselves job creators. 

Read full article at The Guardian

Arizona is a concentrated sample of the most corrupt educational system in the world - that of the United States.  Teachers are fired and books are banned for portraying alternative or “radical” views; everything from “To Kill A Mockingbird”, to “Siddhartha”, to Thoreau, Allende and Shakespeare.  

After the Chronicle of Higher Education published an item highlighting the dissertations of five young PhD candidates in African-American studies at Northwestern University, Chronicle blogger Naomi Schaefer Riley wrote that the mere titles of the dissertations were sufficient cause to eliminate all black studies classes.

Riley hadn’t read the dissertations; “a journalist… it is not my job to read entire dissertations before I write a 500-word piece about them. There are not enough hours in the day or money in the world to get me to read a dissertation on historical black midwifery. Such is the state of academic research these days…. The publication topics become more and more irrelevant and partisan. No one reads them.” 

English isn’t the only subject getting hacked to bits - an ethnic studies law was specifically written to remove Mexican-American studies, and history seems to be missing some key elements as well. Tuscon School Board member Michael Hicks notoriously referenced that time when “Rosa Clark when onto the bus with a gun and held everybody up in the name of civil rights.

i pledge allegiance…

Where is the line drawn between matters of culture and human rights?

For the many sister-wives and their dozens of children, forced upon them by the one male figurehead, the outside world is a scary place.  Their life of hard labour, violent punishment, and strict rules against affection is not simply a “life style”, because it also includes abuse against children, including rape.

Recent actions on the Arizona compound have lead outsiders to reflect on what exactly makes the FLDS’s practices ethical as religious tradition, since most of them involve neglecting basic human rights.  

Here are a few examples taken from an account of Carolyn Jessop, an escapee of FLDS

• Sex is scheduled among wives
• A woman without children has no power or status
• Wives can discipline another woman’s child
• Women are expected to be perfectly silent during childbirth
• Other wives are expected to be present during other wives’ childbirths
• Working wives hand over their entire salary to their husbands
• Many members receive government benefits
• In the FLDS, refusing to have siex with one’s husband is considered to be adultery
• It is a sin for a woman to talk about abuse, if she is being abused, it is because she is not in harmony with her husband
• Members are taught to fear the outside world
• Men are not allowed to interfere in another man’s family
• Childhood immunizations are not allowed

I want to “shove” you.  And by shove I mean…

Two dolphins at a zoo in Switzerland were killed during a weekend-long rave held at the site, after an unidentified guest gave them heroine.

Aside from the fact that the pulsating bass notes of rave music isn’t something meant for animals who use sonar, who in the world thinks it’s a good idea to hold a drug-based event at a place that keeps animals?

The dolphins were found to have Buprenorphine in their systems, which turned off the part of their brains that tells them to go up for air and lead them to drown slowly. 

Best part: the zoo has denied any wrongdoing.

Race, gender, sexual orientation are all parts of us that come from being a creature on the earth.  A badger can’t help being a badger as much as a fish can help being a fish.  Fur, scales, brown skin, white skin, penis, vagina.  When will people admit to themselves that it doesn’t matter what you have on you, but how you use your ability to make decisions and influence the world.

Same-sex marriage is already prohibited by statute; however, Republican lawmakers continued to push for a double-lock guarantee with a constitutional amendment.  Regardless, North Carolinians voted yesterday in favor of the amendment, declaring that they believe “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be recognized in this State.”  

More states will vote in the upcoming election, and one can only hope that they will agree that our legal system is not created to deny rights to others based on socially-created stigmas.  

Washington Post: Full article by Michelle Bernard

“I am a Christian.  I believe that America is the greatest nation on earth.  I also believe that the much-ballyhooed fight to preserve the socially conservative notion of “traditional American family values” is nothing more than an attempt to go back in time to an era where white males dictated culturally, legally, and politically, virtually all aspects of how American’s lived their lives. 

In that version of America, white males held positions of corporate and political power, while their wives mostly stayed home, raised children and made sure the laundry and shopping were done.

Rather than defining traditional family values and using that notion of what America should be to divide the nation, policymakers should focus on supporting and advancing the America that is, not the America that was.”

When the super rich make charitable donations, regardless of what the organization actually accomplishes, the financial difference is paid by the rest of us.  Instead of donating to food shelters or tree planters, though, most of them end up looking to organizations that are not lacking in resources.

But what constitutes a charitable organization?  If the headquarters is in an architecturally-sound castle like some religious and arts groups, there may be less urgency for additional funds.

BP released photos of oil spill damage after dozens of organizations filed a Freedom of Information request.  The explosion in April of 2010 killed 11 workers and sent over 50,000 barrels of oil PER DAY over the course of three months.  

 ”While the White House was trying to keep the emphasis on rosy stories of rescued animals being released back into the wild, they were sitting on these images of garbage bags full of Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles.”  Greenpeace official

Similar to Food Inc., this documentary will show you exactly what is going into your body… crappy corn, apparently.  They show how animals across the country are fed the stuff that inevitably ends up in our bodies too, and how it’s made our bodies regret it.

Each year, thousands of animals die in Procter & Gamble laboratories—the victims of painful product tests in which workers force chemicals into rabbits’ eyes and rub them onto animals’ shaved and abraded skin. The animals are forced into restraining devices so they can’t escape the pain; usually they are not sedated or given painkillers. Some animals have broken their necks or backs trying to escape.

These cruel and unnecessary experiments are paid for with profits from the sale of P&G products. Procter & Gamble refuses to release to the public information regarding the actual numbers and species of animals used, or the types of tests it forces these animals to endure. 

Take note of any products you frequently purchase and try an alternative brand — some shoppers have taken to carrying a list of animal-free brands in their wallet.

Hair-Skin Products»

Aussie, Braun, Camay, Christina Aguilera Perfumes, Clairol, Cover Girl
Dolce & Gabbana, Escada Fragrances, Fekkai
Gillette, Gucci Fragrances, Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Hugo Boss Fragrances
LaCoste Fragrances, MACH3, Natural Instincts, Nice n’ Easy, Nioxin
Olay, Old Spice, Pantene, Presobarba/Blue, Puma 
Rejoice, SafeGuard, Sebastian Professional, Secret, SK-II
Valentino, Venus, Vidal Sasson, Wella, Zest

Household Products»

Always, Bounce, Bounty, Cascade, Charmin, Cheer, Comet, Crest, Dawn, Downey
Duracell Batteries, Era, Febreeze, Gain, Joy, Luvs, Mr. Clean, Oral-B
Pampers, Pepto Bismol, Prilosec-OTC, Puffs, Pringles, PUR
Scope, Swiffer, Tampax, Tide, Vicks


Pet Foods» 

Innova, EVO, California Natural, Health Wise, Mother Nature, Karma, Iams, Eukanuba

Dealing with political issues like an adult.  

instant-disbelief:

This is incredibly interesting

(Source: luciditysbest, via tailoredthoughts)

If you want to watch a really great example of how our dysfunctional country “debates” political issues, start watching around 5 minutes and consider my notes: