MLK

"All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face
to face with another problem.
Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not
cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice
which make philanthropy necessary. To accept passively an unjust system is to
cooperate with that system; thereby the oppressed become as evil as the
oppressor.
Morality cannot be legislated but behavior can be regulated.
Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the
heartless.
There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that
we now have the resources to get rid of it.
We must rapidly begin the shift
from a "thing"-oriented society to a "person"-oriented society. When machines
and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important
than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are
incapable to being conquered.
The dispossessed of this nation -- the poor,
both white and Negro -- live in a cruelly unjust society. They must organize a
revolution against that injustice, not against the lives of the persons who are
their fellow citizens, but against the structures through which the society is
refusing to take means which have been called for, and which are at hand, to
lift the load of poverty.
It is a sad fact that because of comfort,
complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to
injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary
spirit of the modern world have now become the arch-anti-revolutionaries."

madoff & those fuel company commercials

Congratulations fellow citizens of these United States of America, a new era of fair governance is upon us. What has been mute even during the Democratic primaries is the right of affordable housing. Let us plead with President Obama to implement not only inclusionary zones on all new housing but to establish rent reduction and controls for a portion of existing residents based on income. So should the new administration help relieve the populace of its debt with a broad sweep to invigorate the economy! Congressman and finance committee chairman Barney Frank has mentioned including some affordable housing mandates on the federal bailout funds voted on but his efforts seem so far not enough so it is up to us to plead with our lawmakers to demand affordable housing and debt relief for the citizenry. Let us never forget that it was the American people that demanded a Bill of Rights be added to our constitution. Perhaps it is time these rights be expanded as a defense against the greed inherent with the power of modern commerce and communications as wealth becomes more virtual and depersonalized.
The government should also mandate all new construction to be energy independent as part of a massive zero carbon emission standards law. Such a law should require all new vehicle or structure construction to be energy independent and completely fossil fuel and or carbon emissions free. To believe that this is impossible is to cater to the strangle hold of oil companies. Let them also be mandated to eliminate carbon emissions. The technology is self evident, it’s not rocket science it’s just a matter of implementation. Let us not be fooled into eroding the globe’s ice caps.