A blog to blog on

LINK TO VIDEO

    I encourage everyone to watch this video. It’s a real eye opener for
anyone who thinks they understand why islamic extremists groups can
gain such power in countries like Palestinian. It is long, so ensure
you have an hour and 20 minutes to watch it. It brings up a bunch of
important issues in society today. Please do watch it.

X

“What would appall her and what finally turned her against the forces of law and order was the incapacity of the legal system to grant her son humanity.”

-Brothers and Keepers by John Edgar Wideman

    I found this quote especially important because it connects with issues from the “Live from Death Row” excerpt. The inability of our society to give people humanity. In our prisons or on the street, society treats people of different races, religions, genders and sexual orientations differently. Equally is getting better but the process is taking time. Hate crimes still exist today and discrimination for employment is still around. Currently, society is having a hard time understanding Muslims and their different interpretations of what signifies as insulting. Society have to understand that not all people “live in the same world.” Things are interpreted differently by different people. Robby’s trouble with the law and the racism of the police are a prime example. It has caused people of different ethnicities to avoid going to the police to report a crime. Women who have been rape victims in the past would not report the crime because they felt uncomfortable with a male cop. This was discovered through statistics and caused police departments to hire and train female cops to help resolve this.Society makes laws that govern everyone, but not everyone will obey every law. It is important to remember society is a work in progress. Over time things will become better and better. Through education we learn of past mistakes in the hopes they will not be repeated.

Spinach
“We want to make sure consumers are aware that they don’t consume any
of the fresh spinach. We don’t know whether it came from the bag or
another state. We just don’t have the focus down that much yet,” said Dr. Robert Brackett of the FDA.

E. Coli tainted spinach has spread across the country. With 21 states reporting sickness. 111 people have been sickened from the spinach. An investigation is underway to determine the source of contamination. The origins of the spinach can be traced to Salinas, California. On Sunday, authorities expanded their recall of products containing spinach. SO far the recall affects Spring Mix, Farmers Market, Hy Vee and Fresh and Easy. I love how they aren’t telling people boiling spinach kills the bacteria. They don’t necessarily have to discard their spinach. This not the first time this has happened either. Multiple outbreaks have happened since 1995 have plagued produce. I fear this scare tactic will drive fresh produce from the dinner tables of families across the nation. It will also hurt the farmers who grow the stuff when I believe the majority of it is safe. More wasted food in this nation. Restaurants all across the nation are pulling spinach. It’s sad really, how this nation over reacts. When I was young, I use to eat cookie dough batter which had raw eggs in it. No one told me that I could get E. Coli from that. I did it multiple times and never got sick. The solution to that was just wait until the cookies are cooked. Please just cook and eat your spinach, it’s good for you. Canned spinach is still safe, so be like Pop Eye for a day. Do you feel the FDA handled this issue correctly?

CNN
world link

“The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight
against terrorism,” Powell said Wednesday in a letter to Sen. John McCain,
whose amendment last year opposed the use of torture.

    The Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has written a
letter that opposes efforts to amend the Geneva Conventions. Colin Powell has
always been on the side of America.
He was our defender and looked for the best interests of Americans, but he did
work for our government. It strikes me as odd that he would oppose these
amendments even when he is no longer the Secretary of State. I’m very concerned
about what our government is doing, because amending the Geneva Conventions
seems like a good idea. An amendment that opposes the use of torture sounds
great. Is Colin Powell trying to protect America’s
right to torture? If you do not already know, America
does commit torture. The government keeps certain things secret to avoid the
bad publicly that it would endure. Why do you think we have prisons in other
countries like Cuba?
I believe it’s so we don’t violate our own laws by committing torture on U.S.
soil. Everyone has heard of the Abu-Graib prison scandal. In which American soldiers
and even officers tortured prisoners. To oppose change is to oppose
advancement. Society is constantly changing with things becoming outdated and
in need of amending. What are your views on Colin Powell’s effort to oppose
amending the Geneva Conventions? Do you think change is necessary for society?

    Raining Pigeons

    In Texarkana, Texas, poisoned pigeons begun to fall, diving into pavement and dying on the sidewalks. This has marred the city’s annual festival. Authorities have gathered more than 25 sick or dead birds that had apparently eaten poisoned corn from the roof of a nearby bank branch. “The death of these pigeons was more than an unfortunate accident,” said local CapitalOne Bank President Lacy McMillen. She goes on to say it was not the intention of the bank to harm any birds. Sorry, but you hired an exterminator, they exterminate. That’s what they do. I’m glad I don’t use CapitalOne as my bank. The company the bank hired is called Anti-Pest Co. which stated their goal was to get the pigeons to leave the roof and said death was sometimes an unfortunate side affect. The article mentions a similar pigeon control effort at a hospital in Schenectady. I believe its Ellis, is their any other hospitals in Schenectady? I had a bad experience at that hospital about two weeks ago. I don’t recommend it, go to St. Peter’s if you can. Vera Martin, working at Texarkana’s weekend Quadrangle Festival,
said the poisoning in the Texas-Arkansas border city sends a bad
message to children. “I think it’s cruelty to animals,” she said. “What other animals could be killed in the process of doing this?” People fail to think sometimes. The quickest and easiest way to get rid of pigeons is not to feed them poisoned corn. Why not just move the food source? What if some endangered bird came by and had some corn? These things should just be outlawed, it’s understandable pigeons can become pests but their are others ways to deal with it than using poison corn. If it’s a really bad pigeon problem, bring in some hawks, thats a natural way of reducing pigeons, that won’t cause them to die on sidewalks. Any ideas for how to deal with pigeons in a more humane way?

“William Henry Hance was convicted of killing a Georgia Prostitute back in 1978 and was sentenced to death. His trial and subsequent retrial took place before predominately white jurors.”

-Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Live From Death Row

Mumia put a lot of focus on racial differences and prejudices. He said a black man convicted of killing a white man was 4.3 times more likely to face the death penalty. He also talked about the racism in the court room. This article really sickened me, I knew this stuff was happening in prisons but i never really stopped to think about it and what if I was ever convicted of a crime? How wonderful our criminal justice system is, that a retarded mentally ill black man can be convicted of killing a prostitute when it was clear he was retarded and mentally ill? One thing I found surprising was the fact that of the prisoners who opted for death, the majority were white. Mumia Abu-Jamal told us exactly why that was. White people view prison as “social expulsion,” basically society rejects you, your an evil blood thirsty criminal and its not good. Whereas the black man who has been looked down upon in this country for a long time sees prison as a mark of manhood. Mumia Abu-Jamal highlighted some other strong points in what he wrote. These people may be criminals, but they are still human beings and should still be treated as such. Not as dogs who get 2 hours of outside time every 22 hours. The fact they can not have a type writer or I guess nowadays we would say “word processor,” because that may be some sort of security threat is absurd. The “security threat” would be revealing the truth about these horrible places. Body-cavity strip searches before and after each visit also makes no sense if these are non-contact visits! These searches just serve to demean the prisoners even further. Being very liberal as I’am, I can’t stand the death penalty. I do believe people should be punished, but not by death. Who gives another human being the right to kill another? Ok, so maybe someone kills a man, how does it make anything better to kill the man that killed a man? All that does is create more death and misery for the family of the man that killed a man. Teaching a lesson is one thing, controlling who lives or dies is something else. The criminal justice system in this country needs to be revamped. It is out dated and we lack enough space for prisoners. I happen to take criminal justice as one of my classes this semester. One of the reasons the death penalty has probably stuck around so long is to make room for other inmates. Our correctional institutions are overcrowded and overtaxed. We need change and better politicians. Mumia Abu-Jamal wrote this for us. He wanted someone to stand up and do something about this. You are the next generation of Americans, it is our responsibility to improve this country in anyway we can. I guess I won’t include myself in “next generation of Americans” since I plan on moving to New Zealand in 5-10 years.

http://www.ekantipur.com/

This online news site is about everything happening in Nepal which is a landlocked Himalayan country in South Asia. It gives you Nepal’s perspective on alot of world events. It has articles related to sports as well. A great resource for anyone interested in other countries and what’s happening around the world.

Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land

    I encourage everyone to watch this video. It’s a real eye opener for anyone who thinks they understand why islamic extremists groups can gain such power in countries like Palestinian. It is long, so ensure you have an hour and 20 minutes to watch it. It brings up a bunch of important issues in society today. Please do watch it.

The Good Human Blog

While searching Technorati, I came across a blog site from someone named David. He appears to be an environmentalist. If your have an interest in any thing eco-friendly, its a great site to check out. It has lots of information. It even provides ways for you to calculate how much mercury you consume and tips on conserving.