We Should Have This National Conversation For and About Women, Equality and Our Nation

I proposed/asked this earlier tonight out on Facebonkers:

Can you imagine how different, how likely radically different our country would be, our legislation, our laws, if 50 percent of our government legislators were women?

Honestly, we should have this conversation. A national conversation.

I'd love to hear it, first of all, and then I'd like to hear it at least locally and then go nationally.

On the issues of health care and child care and schools and, heck, war and our war machine?

And then there's equal pay for equal work, along with really an untold list of what would be different and changed.

Can you imagine how different even the legislative conversations would be, let alone the results of their legislation

I'm no fool on this. I don't for a minute think we'd hit some Nirvana.

I just think we would be a radically different society and nation. Our government would be radically different and so, our nation would, as well.

Scotland is ahead of us on this. They even have an organized group, pushing for 50% of their representatives to be female.

Women 50:50

There are more  people out there in the world, proposing this idea, this framework and working on and for and toward it than I knew, before today. Here's another example.

Can We Create Planet 50-50 by 2030? 

The UN is in on it, too.

Get involved: Step It Up for gender equality: 

About Step It Up

Think about it.

How insane is it that we're still so horribly unequal, that there is still so much gross inequality, not just in the world but here in the US in the 21st Century? We agreed the part about "All men...created equal" meant men and women long ago, I think most of us agree.

Imagine.

I'd love to hear at least one show, one full hour out on KCUR, maybe on Steve Kraske's show.

It would be perfect for that station, him and his program.

International Day of Peace, 2017

Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.

The theme for 2017 is “Together for Peace: Respect, Safety and Dignity for All.”

The theme honours the spirit of TOGETHER, a global initiative that promotes respect, safety and dignity for everyone forced to flee their homes in search of a better life. TOGETHER unites the organizations of the United Nations System, the 193 Member States of the United Nations, the private sector, civil society, academic institutions and individual citizens in a global partnership in support of diversity, non-discrimination and acceptance of refugees and migrants. It was initiated during the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants on 19 September 2016.

See more here:

International Day of Peace 21 September - the United Nations

Those 60s and 70s We Had In February?

This article came out today based on a report just released:

Yes, February was too warm. Global climate is in ‘uncharted territory,’ group says

A little from it, some highlights:

More than 11,700 daily temperature records across the U.S. were broken in February, with the average temperature 7.3 degrees warmer than normal for the last full month of winter. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Arctic “witnessed the polar equivalent of a heatwave.” This spurred dangerous sea ice melting.

“Even without a strong El Nino in 2017, we are seeing other remarkable changes across the planet that are challenging the limits of our understanding of the climate system. We are now in truly uncharted territory,” World Climate Research Program Director David Carlson said.

Out of the 17 hottest years ever recorded, 16 occurred since 2000.

Prof Sir Robert Watson, a distinguished climate scientist at the UK’s University of East Anglia and a former head of the UN’s climate science panel.

“Our children and grandchildren will look back on the climate deniers and ask how they could have sacrificed the planet for the sake of cheap fossil fuel energy, when the cost of inaction exceeds the cost of a transition to a low-carbon economy,” Watson said.

“Arctic ice conditions have been tracking at record low conditions since October, persisting for six consecutive months, something not seen before in the [four-decade] satellite data record,” said Prof Julienne Stroeve, at University College London in the UK. “Over in the southern hemisphere, the sea ice also broke new record lows in the seasonal maximum and minimum extents, leading to the least amount of global sea ice ever recorded.”

Food for thought, for sure.

At what point do we humans do something, do more, about this?

Here's hoping we don't have Summers of 100 degrees and more and for long stretches of time.

Additional links:

Record-breaking climate change pushes world into 'uncharted territory

Nasa: Earth is warming at a pace 'unprecedented in 1,000 years

Some Takeaways On the World's Happiest Nations Report

The world's happiest nations were announced today by the by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations.

World's happiest countries named

Takeaways?

--The US isn't the happiest

--The US isn't in the top 3

--The US isn't in the top 5

--The US isn't even in the top 10

--The US is in the 13th position

Here's what I love.

The top ten "happiest nations"?

Socialist.

All Socialist.

Every one.

Here's another kicker. Another takeaway. Frankly, it's one more slam on us, the US.

Israel ranks higher in happiness than the US.

Israel.

Surrounded by their enemies. Set upon and attacked, not infrequently, by Palestinians yet they have a higher happiness rating than we do here in the United States.


So, America.  Could we learn some things here?

Please?

Soon as possible?

Here's one:  The lady was right.

We are #Strongertogether.

Links:

World Happiness Report Update 2016

World Happiness Report - Wikipedia

America Has the Worst Vacation Policies 

Of Any Developed Country

Once again, U.S. has most expensive, least effective health care

Americans are much, much more likely to be killed by guns than  people in other countries

Americans are paying more for slower Internet 

And So It Begins

The 115th Congressional session, this very Republican Party, Right Wing, ultra-Conservative Congress has begun...   And with a vengeance.  See for yourself. Here was their first move, famously, infamously, just before the session began.

With No Warning, House Republicans Vote to Gut Independent Ethics Office

Fortunately, the American people rose up, thanks to social media, raised hell and this was squashed. The cowards wisely backed off.

That's not to say they're done, however. Far from it. This is what they started two days ago, God help us.

Senate Republicans Pass Resolution That Begins ObamacareRepeal Process

And now, this. A pièce de résistance, really.

Republicans prepare legislation to 

defund United Nations

It's lead by that political and governmental rocket scientist Rep. Louie Gohmert, no surprise.

Our political world is coming apart with these chuckleheads. This is terrific. Just when nationalism is spreading around the world, nation by nation, these idiots want to tear down the one place we try to all get together, as a world, and solve international problems. 

Fantastic.

These banana-brains just want to get and stay more and more parochial, more and more, "me, first!" and "Leave us alone!"

Honestly, it really does seem like we're going to Hell in a nearly non-proverbial handbasket.

And The Donald isn't even inaugurated yet.

God help us. God save us from ourselves.

Link:  Republicans call Obamacare a 'failure.' 

These 7 charts show they couldn't be more wrong

After deriding it for weeks, Trump now claims to be a ‘big fan’ of the intelligence community

Trump's EPA pick sided with polluters – who gave millions

 to his political agenda

Trump's EPA pick rejects climate science, fights for fossil fuels

Paul Ryan: GOP will defund Planned Parenthood

House GOP rules change will make it easier to sell off federal land 

Senate Republicans introduce bill to slash security at US embassies

National and International Human Rights Day!

Yes sir! Today is National Human Rights Day! Celebrate! Get and be aware! Spread the information!

Human Rights Day - Official Site

Human Rights Day was established in 1948, and ever since that auspicious day it has stood as the first major stride forward in ensuring that the rights of every human across the globe are protected. From the most basic human needs such as food, shelter, and water, all the way up to access to free and uncensored information, such has been the goals and ambitions laid out that day.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was a shout across the world by the leading countries in the world, stating loud and clear that no matter where we live, what we believe, or how we love, we are each individually deserving of the most basic fundaments of human needs. Every year Human Rights Day marks conferences around the world dedicated to ensuring that these ideals are pursued, and that the basic Human Rights of every person is made a priority in the global theater.

Human Rights Day - Wikipedia

Human Rights Day – Dec. 10 – It’s Everyone’s Day

Human Rights Day and Threats to Your Rights around the WorldToday

Human rights under increasing attack worldwide

Human Rights Day: Four Freedoms for Children

The Problems of the World Today

Human Rights Issues | Amnesty International USA

Human Rights Day Facts 2016: How To Donate To Refugees And Others In Need

How to Celebrate Human Rights Day

The first and foremost way to celebrate Human Rights Day is to take some time to appreciate the effect that this resolution has had on your world and life. Look around your neighborhood and see the effects on a local scale, the charitable works being done to promote the health and well-being of those who are less fortunate.

The next step is to get out there and make a difference, whether it’s simply making a donation to one of the dozens of organizations that work towards this global purpose, or organizing a donation drive of your own to help out those organizations fighting the good fight.

World Homeless Day

Yes sir, today is World Homeless Day. From today's New York Times:

Started in 2010, the day seeks to bring attention to homelessness, a problem that affects tens of millions of people worldwide, according to the United Nations.

In the U.S., more than a half-million people live on the streets or in shelters for temporary stays.

But national statistics show that homelessness is declining. And Salt Lake City has been held up as a model.

The city’s approach is simple: Before tackling the problems that led someone to become homeless, those in need first receive a place to live. The program is credited with reducing the number of chronically homeless people across the state by 91 percent since 2005.

Lloyd Pendleton, who leads Utah’s homeless task force, initially doubted the plan. “I get probably two to five calls a week now,” he said in an interview last year, “wanting to know how we did it.”

For information on how you can help, the National Alliance to End Homelessnessand the National Coalition for the Homeless offer resources.

It's Not Too Late!

An hour to go, I'm going to sneak this in yet. It's too important to not.

Happy International Day of Peace!

The International Day of Peace, sometimes unofficially known as World Peace Day, is observed annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone for humanitarian aid access. The day was first celebrated in 1982, and is kept by many nations, political groups, military groups, and peoples. In 2013, for the first time, the Day was dedicated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to peace education, the key preventive means to reduce war sustainably.

To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN Headquarters (in New York City). The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents except Africa, and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan, as "a reminder of the human cost of war"; the inscription on its side reads, "Long live absolute world peace".

Imagine.

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

Quote of the day -- On Our Modern World

And our screwed-up distribution and priorities

Is America turning into a Third World "banana republic"?

Since the 2008 financial near-collapse in America and for the last 30 years, there's been an attack on the middle class in this country:

The Attack on America's Middle Class

7 Things the Middle Class Can’t Afford Anymore

Then, more recently, the UN says Detroit is violating human rights there by cutting off water to the poor:

UN Reps ‘Deeply Disturbed’ That Detroit Is Shutting Off Water To People Who Don’t Pay Their Bills

Now Amnesty International weighs in on the Ferguson, Missouri debacle:

Amnesty International: Ferguson Cops Committed Human Rights Abuses

Take this into consideration:

America Has The Worst Wealth Inequality Of All Developed Nations

What's become of us, America?

What's becoming of us?

And maybe most importantly:

What are we going to do about it?

Question of the day -- for America

I don't think most Americans know this.

Like

"The world is over-armed and peace is under-funded"

To prove UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's statement, check out the world's spending.
(click on picture for easier viewing)

Over-armed and underfunded

As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon so rightly and simply said:

The World is Over-Armed and Peace is Underfunded

And the US, sadly, far and away, leads the world in this.

Yesterday's important anniversary

Yesterday in 1945, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated by the Russian army. The Nazis had abandoned the camp 10 days earlier, forcing most of the prisoners into a death march that killed thousands. Those deemed too weak for the march were left behind, including these children. 

They did not know their ordeal was over until the 322nd Rifle Division of the Soviet Red Army arrived.

Since 2005, January 27th is known as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people along with countless members of other minorities.

See the United Nations Resolution which created this Remembrance Day at http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/remembrance/international/pdf/un_decision.pdf

Still photograph of the children from the Soviet Film of the liberation of Auschwitz, taken by the film unit of the First Ukrainian Front, shot over a period of several months beginning on January 27, 1945 by Alexander Voronzow and others in his group. Child survivors of Auschwitz, wearing adult-size prisoner jackets, stand behind a barbed wire fence. Among those pictured are Tomasz Szwarz; Alicja Gruenbaum; Solomon Rozalin; Gita Sztrauss; Wiera Sadler; Marta Wiess; Boro Eksztein; Josef Rozenwaser; Rafael Szlezinger; Gabriel Nejman; Gugiel Appelbaum; Mark Berkowitz (a twin); Pesa Balter; Rut Muszkies (later Webber); Miriam Friedman; and twins Miriam Mozes and Eva Mozes wearing knitted hats.

If you aren't angry--or involved--you aren't paying attention

Statistics on the economic state of too many Americans:

A report released early this year by the organization Oxfam International revealed that the combined income of the richest 100 people in the world is enough to end global poverty four times over, and that the gap between rich and poor has exploded by some 60% in the last 20 years. Rather than hinder this division, the recent global economic crisis has exacerbated it. Money does not disappear, you see, but tends to be translated up the income ladder in times of financial distress.

According to UNICEF, nearly half the world's population lives on less than $2.50 a day. One billion children live in poverty, and 22,000 of them die each day because of it. More than one billion people lack access to adequate drinking water, and 400 million of those are children. Almost a billion people go hungry every day.

The incomes of 100 people out of the seven billion on the planet could fix that, and then fix it again, and then fix it again, and then fix it again. The exact total of the wealth of these individuals is actually something of a mystery, thanks to the tax havens they use to hide their fortunes. There are trillions of dollars squirrelled away in those havens - no one knows quite how much - and the subtraction of that money from the global economy has a direct and debilitating effect on the people not fortunate enough to be part of that elite 100.

In America alone, some $150 billion in tax revenue is lost each year because of these havens, money that could be used for education, food assistance programs, infrastructure repair and health care. Instead, Americans are told the country is going broke, and are force-fed austerity measures by the same politicians who passed the laws allowing the wealthy and corporations to wallow in treasure like Tolkien's dwarves hiding under their mountain.

Link to original post:   The End of the Beginning of the End

Quote of the day

"Every woman should be able to decide when and whether to have children.

This is true whether she is HIV positive or not...There should be no controversy about this, none at all." --Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, spoken this past Monday in New York at the International AIDS Conference

The biggest news of the year, possibly

The American media has finally, finally begun reporting on the Greek/European economic mess. Last evening, CBS had a report from Brian Williams on it. It was brief but it was something. Then, today, NPR had a story. There just hasn't been near the coverage of the story that there should have been, given both the size of the story and its ramifications. But big as that story is, the one story that will be far bigger than that is reflected in the report out today that the UN formally announced that it believes--has proof?--that Iran is working on making nuclear weapons. All bets are now off. With this declaration from the UN, that Iran is doing work specific to make nuclear arms--whether it's true or not (I suspect it is)--it's war for Israel. Or at least it means Israel will attack Iran and likely very soon.. I don't think we have any other conclusion but that it will mean war for the Middle East. As Margo Channing so aptly said in the movie, "All About Eve", "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." For the world, however, it will at least be a bumpy year, once it begins. Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/45214845/UN_reports_Iran_work_specific_to_nuke_arms

Before we get too excited about Libya

Okay, so sure, Libya has been apparently liberated from it's dictator, Muammar Qaddafi (or however the spelling du jour is right now) and Democracy, with a capital D is going to break out there. Hip, hip, hooray, right? Except slow down, cowboys and girls. As was pointed out last evening on "The McGlaughlin Group" on PBS, Libya is home to no less than 140 tribes. Yikes. Anybody hear Iraq in this? So no leader, thus creating a power vacuum, 140 different tribes, all jockeying for power and then you have the Shiia' and Sunnis also wanting to be "top of the heap", in terms of power. More yikes. So what has been suggested, in light of all this information? It was suggested on that same show last evening that our President Obama send in US troops so Democracy breaks out. Ugh. Not good. Fortunately, it was also suggested that maybe England and France, etc., get their troops on the ground in Libya. Now THAT'S an idea I think has great merit. Let them have at it for once. Here's hoping.

Is World War III being waged right now?

You know how they say people are usually always fighting the "last war" and that that's also why they usually lose? News out this morning tells of a "State actor seen behind 'enormous' wave of cyber attacks" BOSTON (Reuters) - Security experts have discovered the biggest series of cyber attacks to date, involving the infiltration of the networks of 72 organizations including the United Nations, governments and companies around the world. Security company McAfee, which uncovered the intrusions, said it believed there was one "state actor" behind the attacks but declined to name it, though one security expert who has been briefed on the hacking said the evidence points to China. The long list of victims in the five-year campaign include the governments of the United States, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Canada; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); the International Olympic Committee (IOC); the World Anti-Doping Agency; and an array of companies, from defense contractors to high-tech enterprises. The thing is, if we are in the midst of WWIII, we won't know until after someone's conquered. Sobering thought, no? Link: http://news.yahoo.com/biggest-ever-series-cyber-attacks-uncovered-u-n-040749882.html

America flaunts international law, more, again, still

First, President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney trounced international law by pre-emptively and unilaterally attacking Iraq for their 2nd Iraq War, against both popular opinion and, far worse, international law. We've been paying for that with soldiers lives, American prestige and money and materiel ever since. Next, there were "reports that the Obama administration had flown a Somali man accused of ties to terrorism to New York to face prosecution after holding and interrogating him at sea for more than two months." Yeehaw. At least we're consistent, huh? Now, finally today, anyway we find that Governor Rick Perry and the State of Texas "has executed a Mexican national for the kidnapping and rape of a 16-year-old San Antonio girl. Humberto Leal Garcia, 38, was put to death less than two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-to-4 vote, rejected pleas from the Obama administration for a delay to avoid what it called serious international repercussions." Here's where the problems come in regarding international law: "Texas authorities failed to inform him of his right to speak with officers from the Mexican consulate and failed to inform the consulate that a Mexican national had been arrested. Both of those failures violated a 1963 treaty signed by the U.S. Indeed, the consular access provision was added to the treaty at the insistence of the United States." But now, here's the tricky part, at least for the US--while we repeatedly trounce international law as shown by these 3 instances and more, regarding this last one, the US actually likes to use this treaty for its own citizens. Background: "The U.S. relies on the treaty to secure legal help and often to win release of Americans imprisoned abroad, some in countries such as Iran, Libya and Syria. Last year alone the U.S. invoked the treaty for 3,500 Americans imprisoned in other countries." So we like to invoke this law for our own citizens but for people of other countries and their governments, we figure "screw you guys, we're going our own way on this." If we were in school, the US would get a checkmark in the "Doesn't get along with others" column, at least. Can you say "blatant hypocrisy"? Trouble is, executing this Mexican National last evening was good for Texas Governor Rick Perry's presidential run that isn't even official yet. So one Humberto Leal Garcia died last night so Rick Perry could be shown as tough on crime and help his popularity. Yahoo, huh? Isn't that just terrific? I wonder what international laws we'll disregard next. And some people wonder why we have a not-so-great-name and reputation in some parts of the world. Links: http://www.representativepress.org/ViolatingInternationalLaw.html; http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/cra0868.htm; http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/u.s.-may-have-violated-domestic-and-international-law-capturing-and-holding-somali-months-sea; http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/texas-executes-mexican-national-after-supr; http://news.yahoo.com/texas-executes-mexican-court-stay-rejected-233305430.html; http://news.yahoo.com/un-official-us-execution-leal-broke-intl-law-160400028.html