Quote of the Day -- On Wealth Inequality and Inequity

"Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate." --Bertrand Russell

Said so many years ago but still so applicable today. Hear this, Mr. Bezos? Waltons?

Quote of the Day -- On Capitalism

We have to grasp, as Marx and Adam Smith did, that corporations are not concerned with the common good. They exploit, pollute, impoverish, repress, kill, and lie to make money. They throw poor people out of homes, let the uninsured die, wage useless wars for profit, poison and pollute the ecosystem, slash social assistance programs, gut public education, trash the global economy, plunder the U.S. Treasury and crush all popular movements that seek justice for working men and women. They worship money and power.

Chris Hedges

No Justice. No Peace

God
It's my face man
I didn't do nothing serious man
please
please
please I can't breathe
please man
please somebody
please man
I can't breathe
I can't breathe
please
(inaudible)
man can't breathe my face
just get up
I can't breathe
please (inaudible)
I can't breath sh*t
I will
I can't move
Mama
Mama
I can't
my knee
my nuts
I'm through
I'm through
I'm claustrophobic
my stomach hurt
my neck hurts
everything hurts
some water or something
please
please
I can't breath officer
don't kill me
they gonna kill me man
come on man
I cannot breathe
I cannot breathe
they gon kill me
they gon kill me
I can't breathe
I can't breathe
please sir
please
please
please I can't breathe

Quote of the Day -- Timely, Sadly Still Relevant Edition

"I contend that the cry of 'black power' is, at bottom, a reaction to the reluctance of white power to make the kind of changes necessary to make justice a reality for the Negro. I think that we've got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard." 

--Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., August 28,1963

Still sadly true--and relevant--today.

Quote of the Day -- Poignant Sunday Edition

Enjoy your Sunday and holiday, y'all.

An Open Letter to Davis Hammet, KCUR, KCPT, Steve Kraske, The Kansas City Star and All Kansans

So yes, first of all, this is going to be an open letter and it's to several entities so thanks for your patience and I'll do my best to be brief but first, an introduction.

Davis Hammet is a young man living in Kansas, Topeka, to be exact, who moved here--from Florida, I believe--because he felt like it was important and there was work to do. So move he did.

He was and is a political science student (not unlike yours truly) so he knows a bit of what should and should not and can and cannot happen in government.

So he came here and began his work.

His work is educating now-fellow Kansans on their state government at all levels, trying to get more "average people" involved and by so doing, getting to more justice, fairness and some equality in the state.

Noble goals.

With that brief introduction, the open letters.

Mr. Hammet,

Thank you, first, for coming to Kansas.

I don't know how you picked this state or how you came here but thank you and thank goodness you did. Your work, already, in the presumably short time you've been here has been pretty monumental. With your research and time spent at the State Capitol in Topeka and writing and videos you have gotten a great deal of information out to Kansas and Kansans they wouldn't otherwise have and in a very quick, informative, palatable and apparently complete format.

I thank you and I don't even live in Kansas.

What you're doing is extremely important---and helpful. You're making big changes and all for the people.

So now to KCUR, KCPT, Steve Kraske, The Kansas City Star and all the Kansans out there.

You media sources need to have Mr. Hammet on your programs AND BADLY. All one need do is see his brief, concise, very informative YouTube videos (see some below) on his organization, LOUD LIGHT, and you can tell he is a serious young man doing some terrific work and he's extremely informed. This man is headed places.

So please, please have him on your programs, Interview him, write about him, let him speak. He is a voice of the people. Whether Right Wing or Left, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or Independent, it's difficult to be against someone who is merely reporting good, hard, timely information on the state government and who wants justice for his fellow citizens.

So again, Mr. Hammet, thank you. Thank you very deeply and sincerely. Thank you for your work, your energy and the information you give us. Thank you for your intentions. Thank you for coming to Kansas and the Midwest.

Missouri badly needs someone very like you in Jefferson City.

Heck, every state in the nation does.

And Kansas, you are very, very fortunate. Congratulations on your "acquisition." You are very fortunate indeed. You need to know and follow this young man.

Links:

Just some of his YouTube videos, reporting on the Kansas Statehouse.













Additional links:

Loud Light

Loud Light - Home | Facebook

Loud Light (@loud_light) | Twitter

Loud Light - YouTube

Divided St. Louis, Divided Kansas City, Divided America

This New Yorker Magazine cover ran in December, 2014.

It's still so tragically true, of course, and so very still true of our own city and of too much of America.

We need to get and be and stay better than this.

We tell ourselves we are.

Quote of the Day -- On Our Nation and Concentrated Wealth