RFK: Last Courageous Democrat

The Democrats haven’t had political courage since King or Kennedy. The Dems lost their souls to money and are just like the Republicans. Here, I am writing about the last brave Democrat.

A revolution is coming — a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough — But a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.

Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic Senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism/ Democratic Socialist and member of the illustrious Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and acted as one of his advisers during his presidency. From 1961 to 1964, he was the U.S. Attorney General. Following his brothers assassination on November 22, 1963, Kennedy continued to serve as Attorney General under President Lyndon B. Johnson for nine months. In September 1964, Kennedy resigned to seek the U.S. Senate seat from New York, which he won in November. Within a few years, he publicly split with Johnson over the Vietnam War. General Westmoreland was involved in fixing numbers so it looked like we would win, Johnson was fooled. In March 1968, Kennedy began a campaign for the presidency and was a front-running candidate of the Democratic Party. In the California presidential primary on June 4, Kennedy defeated Eugene McCarthy, a fellow U.S. Senator from Minnesota. Following a brief victory speech delivered just past midnight on June 5 at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Kennedy was assassinated by a Security Agent standing behind him. Sirhan Sirhan was a victim of the CIA MK-Ultra expriment. He fired round, but RFK was hit from Behind, impossible for a frontal fatality. Mortally wounded and unconscious, he survived for nearly 26 hours, dying early in the morning of June 6. Kennedy also used the power of federal agencies to influence US Steel not to institute a price increase. The Wall Street Journal wrote that the administration had set prices of steel “by naked power, by threats, by agents of the state security police.”

“ If we believe that we, as Americans, are bound together by a common concern for each other, then an urgent national priority is upon us. We must begin to end the disgrace of this other America. And this is one of the great tasks of leadership for us, as individuals and citizens this year. But even if we act to erase material poverty, there is another greater task, it is to confront the poverty of satisfaction – purpose and dignity – that afflicts us all. Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product – if we judge the United States of America by that – that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”

“ Think that we could agree on what kind of a world we would all want to build. it would be a world of independent nations, moving toward international community, each of which protected and respected the basic human freedoms. It would be a world which demanded of each government that it accept its responsibility to insure social justice. It would be a world of constantly accelerating economic progress — not material welfare as an end in itself, but as a means to liberate the capacity of every human being to pursue his talents and to pursue his hopes. It would, in short, be a world that we would be proud to have built.”

Dedicated to Terri Lee

A New Socialism Needed

I have been a Socialist most of my life. And I must admit thee experience had been a disappointing one.  The revolution in America isn’t real. I have said this before.

In 1980 I joined the Socialist Party USA after my disappointment with DSOC dilettante

Michael Harrington. He writes excellent books, but never reflected the Socialism and comradeship to his subordinates.

There are a few things everyday people go through that socialists in many Socialist Parties do not understand.  These destructive tendencies assure people will not embrace

a Socialist movement.

I quit in 1985, Feeling that the Socialist Party USA was remote from most people and not very conducive to maintaining its membership. It was hard to know comrades and be in contact with them. The SP was and still is bad at PR.

I rejoined the Party in 1995 because the website made sense. There where articles that seemed to be all inclusive. I felt comfortable even though I still disagree with some major issues.

I got deeper involved, but still found my fellow socialist a bunch of control freaks who did exercise Democracy or reflect Democratic Socialist values.

There always seems to be more of a cheerleading session at National Committee meetings, reconfirming old values, not moving forward with anything meaningful. Part dittoheads  disagree.

I loved the Party, and yet embraced, feeling I could disagree and peacefully co-excist.

Some wonderful things came out of the Party.

I ran for office, tirelessly promoting the SP. I never got major support., the SP doesn’t back it minor candidates.

The first shot happened when Hammer and Tongs was published. There was a disturbing article about Mike Marino. I found out he was Disabled and yet the SP published what I thought was a grossly insensitive article on the Oregon situation. I complained about it. How could a Party fighting for a positive future publish something about a disable person that was so insensitive? It came to a head in 2004. The Party convention taught me how inefficient and how The Party cannot move forward.  But I had positive feelings.

After the SP declared itself a “Feminist Party” I knew the end was near. It is already a tendency, why make the Party feminist?

Than bit by bit Social Democrats and people who didn’t aggress with the party where targeted for persecution.  After the Walt Brown/Eric Chester fiasco, people, our most valuable members left in drives.

At a rally in NYC, The Vice Presidential candidate and a friend from Pittsburgh where the only people marching. The rest of the SP member went their way. Aren’t we suppose to be promoting the Party? Other Socialist groups do.

Socialism hasn’t changed since the 70’s. It is filled with dilettante intellectuals who become popular or part of the movement only to disappear into do nothing Socialist clubs or move on to something else. Socialism has no shortage of dabblers.

The National Committee meetings proved to be the last straw. This is the place where we know that the SP isn’t a bottom up organization, not a Democracy, and that all agendas are not open to all members, but done in cloak. National Committee meetings are the biggest waste of time because they achieve absolutely nothing.

The 2006 convention was the straw that broke the Camels back. The real Revolution was in the street. I met the homeless, the hungry, the desperate.  I met people with unbearable lives .  In the convention hall, where dilettante intellectuals arguing about nonsense. I was disgusted. This was the end of the SP for me. There is more I can elaborate. But for now this will due.   America needs a new Socialist Party, one people can relate to. One that will grab the hearts and minds of the people. People like the title American Labor Party. I tried varied Socialist and Democracy titles. They do not work well.

Most Americans want a Socialist Party and Socialism. There is hope yet. But we need a Party of real people, ordinary people. Not thinkers, tinkers, and social experimenters.

Making Unions Strong Again.

The Labor Movement is at its they worse. And Unions have not been the champions of their own cause. There is a way to make Unions strong again. Now that the Industrial age is over and automation is deskilling labor. Unions can make a come back and here is how. Rather than negotiating with the bosses, the can be involved in empotheyring the people. How? Starting a worker owned Co-operatives for one, self help credit unions, Community service for pay, Here is one example: The Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State provides preliminary technical assistance on worker buyouts. Some of the positive synergies bettheyen union representation and worker ownership theyre at play in a Toledo textile firm. In 1991, GenCorp was planning to close down an unprofitable division, but instead agreed to sell it to the 200-plus employees as Textileather. The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) supported the buyout and joined with management in building successful employee participation. Training in participatory practices was implemented from the beginning, and an effective jointly led employee involvement structure resulted in a 28% increase in productivity, a 40% drop in scrap, and greatly reduced machine downtime in the first year. The company was immediately profitable. Ultimately, though, Textileather’s worker-owners decided that their primary goal was job security, not ownership. In 1996, when the acquisition debt was paid off, management and workers agreed to sell the company. The buyer not only paid 160% of the valuation price, but also agreed to increase wages, bring in additional work creating more jobs, and give the employees the first right of refusal if it decided to sell the plant in the future. As unions and co-ops engage in further discussion and collaboration, they may discover unexpected synergies bettheyen the two strategies. Ideally, such collaborations will turn out to strengthen and invigorate both the union staff and members and the worker-owners who are willing to cross over and work together toward a common goal of empotheyring workers. Assisting local unions in establishing community services committees and programs. Providing important information and referral services to union members, their families, laid-off employees and members on strike. Conducting educational training programs. Coordinating labor’s participation in the annual United Way campaigns. Implementing food drives and various community projects.

Self Help To date, they have loaned over $392 million to thousands of businesses and nonprofits, concentrating of those headed by or serving people of color, women, and rural residents. they lend to businesses that make a difference. Small businesses such as stores, restaurants, service companies, auto repair shops, and any other businesses that create opportunities where they’re most needed. Core community services like child care, public charter schools, health care and churches that stabilize neighborhoods. Commercial Real Estate Developments that revitalize low-theyalth communities. Environmentally Sustainable Enterprises Nonprofits Manufacturers that provide quality jobs. Green jobs are widely considered a route out of the current recession in the labor movement, but especially in the building trades, which have been hard hit by the downturn in building. Building trades unions regard the construction of wind, solar, biofuel, and hydro-thermal alternative energy sources as a potential bright spot. A recent report, widely cited by the building trades, supports the widespread view that the building trades will benefit from the switch to green potheyr alternatives. The report—Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low Carbon Economy — done by UMass’s Political Economy Research for the Center for American Progress—claims that a $100 billion green economic recovery package would create 800,000 construction jobs, a majority of which will pay decent wages (over $16 per hour). Most of the jobs would be in already existing occupations and would be geographically dispersed. Areas where the stimulus money should be focused, according to the report, are in sectors that currently employ trades workers, including: • retrofitting buildings to improve energy efficiency • expanding mass transit and freight rail • constructing ’smart’ electrical grid transmission systems • wind potheyr • solar potheyr • next-generation biofuels The report influenced the Obama’s stimulus package, which received strong backing from the trades. Green training is now standard in apprenticeship and post-apprenticeship training throughout the construction industry. Building trades unions are also active lobbying at the national, state, and local level for the permitting of alternative potheyr sources such as wind farms. High level meetings have been held at the White House with strong union participation for programs like the Emerald City Program to get energy efficiency projects up and running. This is a way to make unions strong again.

Social Programs Are Necessary

People are social anmals, and they function in a Social manners. Socialism is important bcause it addresses the fundemntal needs of the people in a compassionate basis. Providing social needs improves society because it allows people to actuate their lives ina positive manner. the social structure of a social group or society, ie. a change in the nature, social institutions, social behaviors or social relations of a society. Social change is a very basic term and must be assigned further context. It may refer to the notion of social progress or social cultural evolution; the philosophical idea that society moves forward by reasonable or evolutionary means. It may point to a paradigmatic change in the social-economic structure, for instance a shift away from feudalism and towards capitalism. Accordingly it may also refer to social revolution, Social progress is the idea that societies can or do improve in terms of their social, political, and economic stations. The  breakthrough to a new idea in European Enlightenment, when social scientists and philosophers began to realize that people themselves could change society and change their way of life. Instead of being made completely by superstition, there was increasing room for the idea that people themselves demand as newsociety – the Idea of Progress is the theory that advances in technology, science, and social organization inevitably produce an improvements in the human condition. That is, people can become happier in terms of quality of life (social progress) through economic development (modernization), and the application of science and technology (scientific progress), and Economic security. The assumption is that the process will happen once people apply their reason and skills, for it is not divinely foreordained. When there is too much conservatives, society regresses. Crime, slums, abuse of all variety, illiteracy, and the undermining of human value occur and society becomes dysfunctional. 1847 and 1853 Sweden passed “poor relief laws”, taking the first step towards implementing the welfare state. As early as 1913, Sweden’s Liberal Party government (non-socialist) began broadening the range of social benefits. It took most other developed countries until the Great Depression of the 1930s to take similar steps.[ citation needed] The Liberal Party government passed the National Pension Act in 1913 to provide security for the aged. In 1918 a liberal-social democratic coalition government passed a new poor law, turning the responsibility of assisting anyone in need over to local governments, while the central government contributed administrative support. This law was to remain the cornerstone of Sweden’s assistance programs for the next 40 years. In 1938 the Saltsjöbaden Agreement (named after the small town Saltsjöbaden) between the workers and employers confederations was signed. It resolved several issues on the market. It came to form a particular form of industrial relations in Sweden, the so-called “Saltsjöbaden spirit”, marked by willingness to co-operate and a mutual sense of responsibility for developments in the labor market. Sweden’s social welfare continued to develop during the 1950s and 1960s, during which time Sweden was the third wealthiest country in the world for a period, with practically zero unemployment. The Welfare State then reached a peak in the 1970s, when it in effect affected and included everyone from child care to the pension system . Conservatives critics say the government takes care of you cradle to grave. Actually, the government helps you take care f your self and gives you the freedom and democarcy an economic and even social wealth to live a better qaulity life.

Expose The Tea Baggers

The Tea Baggers are a one stop political center of the ignorant ugly American. States Rights is one of their weapons against progress. The term “states’ rights,” some have argued, has long been used as a code word by defenders of segregation. It was the official name of the “Dixiecrat” party led by white supremacist presidential candidate Strom Thurmond. George Wallace, the Alabama governor—who famously declared in his inaugural address, “Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!”—later remarked that he should have said, “States’ rights now! States’ rights tomorrow! States’ rights forever!” Wallace, however, claimed that segregation was but one issue symbolic of a larger struggle for states’ rights; in that view, which some historians dispute, his replacement of segregation with states’ rights would be more of a clarification than a euphemism. The Flat tax: The dissenting voices seem to be made up of “special interest” groups–the real estate industry, charitable organizations, tax attorneys and tax accountants. The general public needs to learn when it becomes understood that the various flat tax proposals will significantly increase the tax burden of Americans earning less than $100,000 per year. This method of tax punishes working class and poor and allows the wealthy more breaks. Capitalism will save us/ Less Government: Another worry is how the chemical dispersants being used to break up the undersea oil will impact the Gulf’s ecosystems and inhabitants. The dispersant’s ingredients are a trade secret closely held by the company that makes it, and therefore have not been vetted by marine biologists to determine their safety for use in such a large application. It also remains to be seen what impact the tiny oil droplets left in the dispersant’s wake will have. It could actually be worse for the undersea environment to break the oil up into tiny droplets (which is done to try to make it easier for microbes to digest them). Beyond all these undersea environmental effects, the oil is also starting to wash up into coastal wetlands already besieged by overdevelopment, pollution . If there can be any silver lining to this catastrophe, it may be that it is the wake-up call we’ve needed to start moving more rapidly away from fossil fuels to a clean, renewable energy future. For starters, we can all begin to reduce our own oil consumption and opt for clean and green energy sources whenever possible. So far Capitalism supports sweatshops, pollution, endless wars, inequality, and poverty. Also, Capitalism is responsible for un-nutritious genetically modified foods. Lees Government means smaller weaker government for the people. Egregious culture of ignorance and selfishness. They like author Ayn Rand for instance. She was a Author of “Atlas Shrugged” and “Fountainhead.” In Atlas Shrugged the wealth go off to start there own Nation because workers and the poor are leaches and the wealthy should keep their money. In Fountainhead a architect blow up a building claiming it is his and the corporation bastardized it. Of course it isn’t and the judge renders it OK to perform acts oif sabatage, Terrorism, and reckless endangerment, and more. It was his creation it belonged to him. They hate the United Nation because they fear Internationalism and crave isolation and wish to bring the world into the past. And Impose there values on people. They hate socialism and confuse Communism with Socialist. Here is a good site: http://www.bidstrup.com/politics.htm Their mantra is that The top one percent gets everything, and Obama the Socialist supports them with mass money. Capitalism will save us. The top one percent are Capitalists. (Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are also Socialist. TV personalities who are expected to incite America Cult of Ignorance. On TV shouting and screaming and suggesting that this country is becoming Socialist. – Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter etc are not ‘average Americans’ they are rich people who make millions and part of the ‘elite’ they pretend to rail against. It is their personal interests they are trying to protect while using the ignorance of poor and working class people to do be manipulated in there Cult. The 2009 Tea Parties are merely an updated version of what took place once upon a time with corporate media being the tool that has violated our trust and replaced trust with psychological techniques and discussions designed to manipulate folks who cannot think in the first place. If they told some of these people whiz was champagne, they would drink it. Fear, greed, ignorance, hate. And using the constitution to do it.

franken foods

Genetically modified foods are made from genetically modified organisms. Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques. These techniques are much more precise than mutagenesis (mutation breeding) where an organism is exposed to chemicals to create a artificial yet stable change. Other techniques by which humans modify food organisms include selective breeding (plant breeding and animal breeding), and somaclonal variation. Bans In 2002, Zambia cut off the flow of Genetically Modified Food from UN’s World Food Program. This left a famine-stricken population without food ssistence.[ In December 2005 the Zambian government changed its mind in the face of further famine and allowed the importation of GM maize. However, the Zambian Minister for Agriculture Mundia Sikatana has insisted that the ban on genetically modified maize remains, saying “We do not want genetically modified foods and our hope is that all of us can continue to produce non-GM foods In April 2004 Hugo Chávez announced a total ban on genetically modified seeds in Venezuela. In January 2005, the Hungarian government announced a ban on importing and planting of genetic modified maize seeds, which was subsequently authorized by the EU. On August 18, 2006, American exports of rice to Europe were interrupted when much of the U.S. crop was confirmed to be contaminated with unapproved engineered genes, possibly due to accidental cross-pollination with conventional crops. On February 9, 2010, Indian Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, imposed a moratorium on the cultivation of GMF “for as long as it is needed to establish public trust and confidence”. His decision was made after protest from several groups responding to regulatory approval of the cultivation of Bt brinjal, a GM eggplant in October, 2009. Intellectual property Traditionally, farmers in all nations saved their own seed from year to year. Allowing to follow this practice with genetically modified seed would result in seed developers losing the ability to profit from their breeding work. Therefore, genetically-modified seed are subject to licensing by their developers in contracts that are written to prevent farmers from following this traditional practice. Many objections to genetically modified food crops are based on this change. Monsanto Canada Inc. v. Schmeiser Enforcement of patents on genetically modified plants is often contentious, especially because of gene flow. In 1998, 95-98 percent of about 10 km2 planted with canola by Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser were found to contain Monsanto Company’s patented Roundup Ready gene although Schmeiser had never purchased seed from Monsanto. The initial source of the plants was undetermined, and could have been through either gene flow or intentional theft. However, the overwhelming predominance of the trait implied that Schmeiser must have intentionally selected for it. The court determined that Schmeiser had saved seed from areas on and adjacent to his property where Roundup had been sprayed, such as ditches and near power poles. Although unable to prove direct theft, Monsanto sued Schmeiser for piracy since he knowingly grew Roundup Ready plants without paying royalties. The case made it to the Canadian Supreme Court, which in 2004 ruled 5 to 4 in Monsanto’s favor. The dissenting judges focused primarily on the fact that Monsanto’s patents covered only the gene itself and glyphosate resistant cells, and failed to cover transgenic plants in their entirety. All of the judges agreed that Schmeiser would not have to pay any damages since he had not benefited from his use of the genetically modified seed. In response to criticism, Monsanto Canada’s Director of Public Affairs stated that “It is not, nor has it ever been Monsanto Canada’s policy to enforce its patent on Roundup Ready crops when they are present on a farmer’s field by accident…Only when there has been a knowing and deliberate violation of its patent rights will Monsanto act. Can you believe that scientists are now actually modifying plants to manufacture pharmaceutical compounds (a technique known as “pharming”), trees which will yield fruit and nuts much earlier in the season than they would naturally, plants that produce new kinds of plastics, and fish that reproduce more rapidly! What are Genetically Modified Organisms ? Farmers have had free seeds in America for 600 years, and now these same free seeds are owned by private sector corporations. Scientists have been and are currently introducing genetic material into organisms to alter, create and affect changes in living plants and animals. These radical changes scientists are developing create specific, desirable traits that might never evolve naturally and in my opinion are extremely dangerous. Collectively called recombinant DNA technology, this practice changes the core genetic make-up of organisms. This genetic manipulation gives scientists the ability to create any trait that they wish, or suppress natural traits they don’t want. There are several reasons this unnatural genetic manipulation may affect you. It’s usually not clear which consumables have been genetically manipulated. You don’t know the long term health effects of these genetically modified foods. Initial research has shown that short-term reactions can be severe. Agro-chemical companies and the government are planning to charge farmers fees to grow their GM crops, thereby negatively affecting the economy and environment. Cultivated Genetically Modified Foods – From bacteria (E. coli) and fungus, fruits and vegetables to animals, genetic manipulation is becoming more and more common in our society. In the US market now, 60 to 70% of the processed foods are genetically modified. In 2006, United States GMO crops reached just shy of 135 million acres, with the total global area exceeding 250 million acres!1 This is a short list of the genetically modified food crops that are grown in the US today: Sugar cane , Sweet peppers, Tomatoes, Bananas ,Strawberries , Soy bean Corn Potatoes , Pineapples ,Cocoa beans ,Yellow squash Zucchini REFERENCES Brief 35: Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2006, Accessed Nov 2007. Available for purchase, http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/35/ The True Food Shopping Guide, http://www.truefoodnow.org/shoppersguide/guide_printable.html, from The True Food Network, http://www.truefoodnow.org/ 50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods, by Nathan Batalion, http://www.raw-wisdom.com/50harmful Ibid. American Rice Banned in Many Countries After Genetic Contamination, http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_1605.cfm, by Thomas Whitman, ed., Ecological Farming Association, August 21, 2006 Health Begins in The Colon, ©2007, by Dr. Edward F. Group III, p. 131 Pharm Phresh Frankenfoods, http://www.mindfully.org/GE/GE4/Pharm-Phresh-Frankenfoods7oct02.htm, by Margaret Wertheim, LA Weekly, 7Oct02 Genetically Modified Foods: Are They a Risk to Human/Animal Health? http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/pusztai.html, by Arpad Pusztai. An ActionBioscience.org original article

MOVIES

Super Size Me

 Food inc

Illegal Arms Trade

Just as America’s streets are flooded with weaponry, so is the global market-place. From the American-bought hand-gun that killed a Mexican presidential candidate this year to the varied weapons of war equipment used by Iraqi forces during the Persian Gulf War, weapons of every variety are moving undetected across world borders.

Here in the United States, violence-weary Americans have begun standing up to the once all-powerful gun lobbies.  In Philadelphia PA there is a murder everyday.

America’s arms export policy point to three problems
1. Connected gun merchants are above the law. 2. Many foreign Nations
Aren’t subject to us regulations. 3. Secret Government are complicit  in international gun merchandising.
Even a single American-supplied weapon can change an entire contry’s history. Luis Donaldo Colosio, the 44-year-old heir-apparent to the Mexican presidency, was killed in March by two bullets fired from a .38-caliber Taurus. The gun was originally purchased in 1977 by a security firm executive in San Francisco and had crossed the Mexican border some time later without a  trace, say authorities from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF).

After the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union collapsed. Tens of thousands of ex-Soviet soldiers were put out of work. Much of Eastern Europe was the same. In Africa, the lack of superpower support meant that the traditional militaries collapsed. And societies were beginning to fragment into numerous rebel groups ( National Liberation Front, Democratic Liberation, ETC)  and there was a great demand for military arms. Many of the former Soviet citizens  became arms dealers. The situation  went from a situation traditionally emphasized heavy arms to one which emphasized small arms — what the soldier could carry. These would have been AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, mortars, that sort of thing. They were cheap, they were durable, and they could be concealed and easily transported. And I think the fact [is] that the West kept track of the state-to-state arms transfers, but what made this a particularly difficult problem after the end of the Cold War was there was no tracking of small arms.
And it had a major impact on Africa — very devastating. I guess 7 to 8 million people had been killed by the turn of the century [2000]. There were millions of refugees and internally displaced [people]. Also, numerous people maimed or otherwise brutalized. Whole areas of Africa just ravaged. I think perhaps Sierra Leone, Liberia, and eastern Congo are the most terrifying examples.

The flow of arms into Africa is a worldwide phenomenon. Arms dealers use banks throughout the world. Transportation companies throughout the world, whether it be sea or airplane. Deals are made in one country for arms purchased in other countries. A lot of arms flowed out of the former Soviet republics. But there were also arms coming from European countries as well, and Asian countries. It was a bonanza. And it was unregulated.
The impact on Africa, if you could look at several different sectors of society. The Karamojong people living in eastern Africa, it’s a pastoral group, traditional warriors. Suddenly, they’re armed with AK-47s. It turned their society into chaos. In eastern Congo, where you had an invasion by the Ugandans and Rwandans and various rebel groups active in the area, it just devastated the entire portion of that country. I can remember speaking with some people who lived there. They said, “There’s nothing here. There’s no roads. There’s no police force. There’s no schools. There’s no medical services. There’s nothing. You’re on your own.” And that is the most egregious example. And then you have rising crime rates in places like Nairobi or Johannesburg, in part fueled by the easy availability of illegal arms.

Children and  millions around, not just Africa,  the world are being sensely murder and are victims of international weapons trade.

The Revolutionary United front (RUF) in Sierra Leone armed up to 23,000 child soldiers with illegally acquired arms. These children were mostly used to raid villages and guard diamond mines. They were drugged, raped and forced to commit such atrocities as killing their own parents  Many Children are dismember and hacked or shot to death.

The illegal arms trade makes the armed seizure of natural resources possible.

Small arms can be traded directly for natural resources such as oil, diamonds, and timber or for the profits generated by the sale of those natural resources.

This is like a cancer.

Capitalism and Socialism

The USA is the richest country in the world. Yet millions of people will be homeless at some time over many long years. There’s no national health scheme, and over forty million people cannot afford private coverage. Socialism seems to be the better alternative. Socialism is about solving our Social and Econmic problems in a fair and equitable basis. Social-democracy as Democratic Socialism an alternative strategy for achieving socialism. Socialism is fights for the abolishment of wage-slavery and the capitalist system built on it by a different system – freedom, cooperative, liberty, Democratic labor. What has that got to do with the modest reforms achieved by the Capitalists and Trotskyites? The fight for social reforms and the defense of existing welfare state provisions are indeed necessary for socialists to take up. Although socialsim isn‘t a pencea, it is the true and real political solution. If only a free market economy can offer democracy. Without it you get state control, and state control inevitably stifles democracy socialists do not want a bureaucratic state, high taxes, and inefficiencies as lies told by Democrats, Republicans, and libertarians. Capitalism has become less irrational and inhuman since industrial revolution. Wage slavery and exploitation are still at the heart and root of capitalism. In a world of vast productivity and excess food production, 150 million children (by UN statistics) do not get enough to eat. Capitalism thrives on exploitation as consumers, women, children, seniors and men suffer in the circuit of the underprivileged. The idea that only the market system can be the basis for democracy is like saying only wage slavery for the masses and increasing concentration of wealth and power at the top of society can be the basis of democracy! Democracy in capitalism is limited and unstable. This came from Social Revolutions demanded by the people. We need to spark this up again. Mass self-rule by the producers, dominated neither by a bureaucratic state monopoly nor by the economic rule of the multimillionaires and their officials, is a better form of democracy. See this link for more:

Myths About Socialism http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/04/10

A Case for Socialism in the Twenty First Century-Jason Schulman http://web.gc.cuny.edu/advocate/FEB05ISSUE/html/caseforsocialism.htm

There are lies myths and slanders against socialism, like Socialism is about bureaucracy, bigger government, more taxes. This is just about providing Socialism to the people and not millionaires.

Social Anthropology

Social anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups and siuations. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive observation (Includin research and participation), the social organization of a particular person: customs, economic and political organization, law and conflict resolution, patterns of consumption and exchange, kinship and family structure, child rearing and socialization, religion,
Socialists must understand ; economic anthropology; environment ; development.
Ethnic and gender identity based politics; Intersectional of ethnicity/race, and class; Anthropology of human rights; Anthropology of human inequality; Ethnic inequalities and economic transformation in the planet mission to eliminate poverty. The development of civil society in the world. The impact on this process, climate change policies (focus on their impact on sustainable and livable  communities), Science and Technology Studies , sociology of organizations and institutional sociology, theories of power. anthropology of war, violence and conflict, nation-state, ethnicity, and economic anthropology.
Many Liberals and Socialist here in America are clueless to the culture and societies of others.
The problem is ignorance and inexperience. Many socialists feel that the world should adhere to American values and perpetuate socialism on those values. This is utter non sense.
People of different culture and societies have social morays and values of there own, which many American, even socialists do not understand..
In the beginning of Star Trek, Captain Kirk speaks about new cultures and civilizations.
When many Star Trek and its predecessor shows viewed the different values and natures of alien beings.
People criticized Benazare Bhuto when she had an arranged marriage. She explained, even as a Socialist, that this was her way and her religion.
If one where to go to Japan or Korea and start preaching the American gospel, they would tell you they have different values and culture.
People have their way of life, communication, environmental, and value system different from ours.
There are some who believe we should force people to see things our way. This didn’t work in Italy as I once was told by my cousin. A fellow socialist, this is Italy, not America, we do things differently here.
If American Socialist are going to be successful, we will have to follow the view of Gene Roddenberry. Also, Burt Wolf says, ” Travel melts away, ignorance, prejudice, and opens our minds.”
In dealing with people the mutual respect of being alien and foreign come to understanding. Democratic Socialism will free us all in different ways.
With universal understanding, tolerances, and acceptance of similarities and differences. We are all human beings and have many of the same needs. respect is a major ingredient. And diplomacy must be learned.

Socialist International-A View

The Second International, which was formed in 1889 and dissolved on the eve of World War I in 1914 and the Labour and Socialist International which dissolved itself in 1940 with the rise of Nazism and the start of World War II, constituted some of the same parties that would later form the Socialist International.
While the Second International was split by the outbreak of World War a skeleton form survived through the International Socialist Commission. The International re-formed in 1923 (as the Labor and Socialist International), and was reconstituted again, in its present form, after World War II (during which many social democratic and socialist parties had been suppressed in Nazi-occupied Europe).
During the post-World War II period, the SI aided social democratic parties in re-establishing themselves when dictatorship gave way to democracy in Portugal (1974) and Spain (1975). Until its 1976 Geneva Congress, the Socialist International had few members outside Europe and no formal involvement with Latin America. In the 1980s, most SI parties gave their backing to the Nicaraguan Sandinistas (FSLN), whose left-wing government had incited enmity from the United States.
Since then, the SI has admitted as member-parties not only the FSLN but also the centre-left Puerto Rican Independence Party, as well as the ex-Communist parties such as the Italian Democrats of the Left (Democratici di Sinistra (DS)) and the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO).
The Party of European Socialists, a European political party active in the European Parliament, is an associated organization of the Socialist International.

The SI itself is still a top shelf organization of the global left. They officially support the various anti-capitalist movements around the world. The SI calls for the international abolition of the death penalty. The SI favors every country adopting some kind of Ecological policies. They also favor canceling debts in many of the 3rd world nations. It is importantly to remember that the SI opposed the US led action of war on Iraq . Virtually every SI member party opposed the war.

The SI took a stand against apartheid In South Africa supporting Mandella. Being a champion in international human rights. In Jamaica Prime Minster Stanley took a stand against US pressure. The US gave the (socialist) People’s National Party government a hard time for Jamaica trying to get rid of poverty and having the nerve to embrace Cuba. In a Conservative government, the Jamaican begin toting M16 military riffles.

The Socialist Party of Allenede came back to power several years ago which is a adamant rejection of Augusto Pinochet’s fascist reign of terror and human rights abuses which lasted from 1973 until 1990. After the CIA backed overthrow of democratically elected Salvatore Allende.
The Movement toward Socialism organization in Venezuela is an observer status member of the SI. The MTS supports the justice and reforms of Hugo Chavez. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has to destroy the Socialist government of Venezuela. The USA’s northern neighbor, Canada. The New Democratic Party did fairly well. They picked up 5 seats in the House of Commons from 14 to 19. electorate.

The Socialist Party of America had had enormous success in Milwaukee when it was an SI party member. No since the early 1900′s has the USA had a real significant Socialist Party. That is Where the American Labor Party and Socialist International step in. The ALP/ISO will seek entrance to the SI.

Dedicated and Inspred by Mel Little