Sunday, December 29, 2013

Michael Moore and Bill Maher on Corporations





Watch this and reflect on fiscal policy in the US today ...


Ocean Devastation and Pollution Directly Caused by the "human" Species Worldwide



More here and here ... striking info on the opening photo here.

peAce ...
topbop!


robertdodson.com

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Monsanto's extending its power over the globe, with a massive new frankenseed factory in Argentina. Sofía Gatica and local neighbours have spoken out, and she has received death threats and a brutal beating. The threat is urgent -- let's stand with them and stop the plant.

Monsanto manufactures the genetically modified seeds that, when combined with toxic pesticides, create the devastating 'monocultures' -- where nothing grows but a single plant -- that increasingly cover our planet. Now they plan to build one of the world's largest GM seed factories in Malvinas.

Sofía, worried about health risks from the plant, has joined the protests, backed by nearly 70% of the area's residents. If 1 million of us join the people of Malvinas in the next 3 days, we can raise the profile of the issue in local media, feature the petition in an ad campaign, and push the unpopular Argentine President to shut down the plant and roll back the spread of Monsanto's toxic agriculture:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_monsanto_in_argentina_global_/?bWfXDeb&v=32826

Sofia and the people of Malvinas have been lying in front of bulldozers to block the construction of the plant. If we can amplify their protest -- we can help them win. President Kirchner is facing a wave of unpopularity right now, and she can't afford to be seen to be choosing Monsanto's profits over her own people.

The mega-plant will use toxic chemicals to engineer seeds, which sounds weird because seeds are supposed to come from plants right? Not in Monsanto's scary new world, where plants are genetically designed to be sterile, and the only way farmers can keep planting food is by buying seeds every year from Monsanto! In the US, up to 90% of some types of crops are planted with Monsanto seeds, and with its new mega-plant in Argentina, the infamous company is extending its power over the globe.

The threats and beating of Sofía and her fellow protesters are the last straw -- let's stop Monsanto's invasion of South America, and start rolling back the devastation wreaked on our ecosystems by their products:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_monsanto_in_argentina_global_/?bWfXDeb&v=32826

Some argue that genetic modification holds great promise for increased agricultural efficiency. There may be many such benefits in the future, but often the gains are hyped by corporate PR (such as the line that GM seeds 'feed the world' by being far more productive than normal seeds -- in fact there's little evidence of that), and GM technologies often put profit over people and planet. Governments should adjudicate the public risks and benefits, but Monsanto is skilled in undermining democratic governance. They even passed a law in the US that says that a judge cannot order a recall of Monsanto products, even on grounds of public safety!

Our planet is being rapidly transformed by genetically modified, industrial agriculture, and our governments are far too heavily influenced by the American mega-corporation at the center of it all -- a corporation that is gradually coming to control the world's food supply. Let's not force our children and grandchildren to deal with a world fed by Monsanto, when we can stop it now.

With hope,

Ricken, Meredith, Laura, Nick, Alice, Luis, Marie, Nadia and the whole Avaaz team

Saturday, December 07, 2013

His Day is Done - A Tribute Poem for Nelson Mandela by Dr. Maya Angelou

His Day is Done - A Tribute Poem for Nelson Mandela by Dr. Maya Angelou

His day is done. Is done.

The news came on the wings of a wind, reluctant to carry its burden. Nelson Mandela's day is done. The news, expected and still unwelcome, reached us in the United States, and suddenly our world became somber. Our skies were leadened. His day is done. We see you, South African people standing speechless at the slamming of that final door through which no traveler returns. Our spirits reach out to you Bantu, Zulu, Xhosa, Boer. We think of you and your son of Africa, your father, your one more wonder of the world. We send our souls to you as you reflect upon your David armed with a mere stone, facing down the mighty Goliath. Your man of strength, Gideon, emerging triumphant. Although born into the brutal embrace of Apartheid, scarred by the savage atmosphere of racism, unjustly imprisoned in the bloody maws of South African dungeons. Would the man survive? Could the man survive? His answer strengthened men and women around the world. In the Alamo, in San Antonio, Texas, on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, in Chicago's Loop, in New Orleans Mardi Gras, in New York City's Times Square, we watched as the hope of Africa sprang through the prison's doors. His stupendous heart intact, his gargantuan will hale and hearty. He had not been crippled by brutes, nor was his passion for the rights of human beings diminished by twenty-seven years of imprisonment. Even here in America, we felt the cool, refreshing breeze of freedom. When Nelson Mandela took the seat of Presidency in his country where formerly he was not even allowed to vote we were enlarged by tears of pride, as we saw Nelson Mandela's former prison guards invited, courteously, by him to watch from the front rows his inauguration. We saw him accept the world's award in Norway with the grace and gratitude of the Solon in Ancient Roman Courts, and the confidence of African Chiefs from ancient royal stools. No sun outlasts its sunset, but it will rise again and bring the dawn. Yes, Mandela's day is done, yet we, his inheritors, will open the gates wider for reconciliation, and we will respond generously to the cries of Blacks and Whites, Asians, Hispanics, the poor who live piteously on the floor of our planet. He has offered us understanding. We will not withhold forgiveness even from those who do not ask. Nelson Mandela's day is done, we confess it in tearful voices, yet we lift our own to say thank you. Thank you our Gideon, thank you our David, our great courageous man. We will not forget you, we will not dishonor you, we will remember and be glad that you lived among us, that you taught us, and that you loved us all.





A Leader .. President Nelson Mandela