Citizens Media Resource: July 2014

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

A Trifecta of Moving Torture

It's summer and moving season, which is actually winding down as retailers are in back-to-school mode.
For anyone considering a move -- across town or across the country -- I have three words for you:
Don't do it!
I am not one to write about personal matters, but there are consumer concerns here that can affect any of us. We had the Movers from Hell after we sold our home, and then the bank where we deposited the proceeds from the sale froze our accounts without telling us.

Blackburn and Her Corporate Sponsors Crush Competition from the Little Guy

Seems as though everyone saw through Rep. Marsha Blackburn's (R-TN7) tweet-rant about "states' rights" as she tried to shield poor little ol' ATT and Comcast from competition from the city of Chattanooga, whose Internet built for the good of the community is way faster than anything from the giant Internet Service Providers.

Mrs. Blackburn, did your Mississippi mind forget that Chattanooga is a city in your present state of Tennessee?

Per your argument, Mrs. Blackburn, who claims the federal government is just awful and then gets herself re-elected to prove it's true, all Tennesseans should be claiming "cities' rights" and throwing off the choke-hold from the oppressive, corrupt state government.

Of all Blackburn's phony, laughable tantrums, this one ranks up there with her "debating" climate change on Meet the Press.

This story from Business Insider, gives a good overview of the issue.

http://www.businessinsider.com/chattanooga-tennessee-big-internet-companies-terrified-2014-7

Link to another story in Nashville Business Journal:

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2014/07/marsha-blackburn-claims-states-rights-in-fight.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2014-07-17&u=phmEyZu+WYTW%2FPAK1v5WzTKgJIA&t=14

Thursday, July 3, 2014

'Are Economic Growth and Social Justice Incompatible?'

That economic growth and development drive all that is good in the world is a fairy tale that is rarely challenged. The mechanisms of growth at all costs are widening inequality are pushing down all of us economically -- all but a very few of the world's wealthiest.

This article from truthout answers: 'Are Economic Growth and Social Justice Incompatible?'

Wish List of Research

1. Who makes money on war? And on military buying, protecting and occupying? Yeah, we already know, but let's audit this with excellent research that lays out who profited and continues to profit from our invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afganistan....or any other military activity and occupations, past or present. We have at least 823 foreign bases that the U.S. admits to; those are paid for by taxpayers, and the military bases are there principally to guard the oil for Exxon-Mobil. I believe we will find that taxpayers spend a huge amount on corporate welfare and subsidies to giant corporations, whose profits obviously are more important than the lives and limbs that are sacrificed in military actions. While we are at it, we should study who makes money from natural disasters, and how they get handed huge government contracts---in a no-bid rush, of course, since it is an emergency. There are capitalistic exploiters who feed off this as an industry; they are just not so long-established as what President Eisenhower called "the military-industrial complex."

2. Economic impact of legalizing use and sale of marijuana. There's another economic stimulus and revenue raiser. It would be regulated for safety and legal for individuals and small outfits to grow and sell. With the chance for broad participation, and the exclusion of monopolistic takeover of the market, many Americans would have the opportunity to be entrepreneurs.