End 21st Century Slavery

OCCUPY OUR HOMES and NEIGHBORHOODS

2011-10-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

I dropped out of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, because I figured that I had done my time trying to "fix" problems with the American business world. My efforts produced a crackdown in the industry (title insurance) but left me in poor health and without any desire to return to work for Corporate America. These same companies are illegally outsourcing jobs to Asia right now, and their former

MERS: Methinks the government has bailed out the wrong people.

2011-03-11T16:09:00.000-08:00

On October 13. 2010, Reuters’ Factbox: The role of MERS in foreclosure furor provided a succinct explanation of ongoing problems with MERS. We should have seen the tidal wave coming. MERS is a consortium comprised of Lenders and Title Insurance Companies who have sought technological solutions to lower costs in labor-intensive industries. The registration system in MERS is

THE AUDACITY OF HOKUM - PART II: Mr Obama Explains it All

2011-02-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

FOLLOWING is my detailed analysis of the first portion of President Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address [click for transcript]. Bold italics are directly from the speech. The remainder is my paraphrase and commentary. Mr. Obama Explains it All After his opening remarks, President Obama used the flames of debate manufactured by media and elected officials over the acts of a lone crazy man

THE AUDACITY OF HOKUM - PART I: AMERICA - OPEN FOR BUSINESS

2011-01-26T15:44:00.000-08:00

“We are part of the American family. We believe that in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found, we are still bound together as one people…” What a wonderful and unifying statement, on the heels of angst over a perceived drop in civility in the national discourse. President Obama’s State of the Union Address [click hyperlink for entire text] contained both rhetoric

POPE BENEDICT EXCUSES PEDOPHILES IN ADDRESS TO CARDINALS

2010-12-27T03:03:00.000-08:00

Bronze Mural from St. Mary's Cathedral, San Francisco, CA Having heard/read some prurient snippets of POPE BENEDICT XVI’s December 20, 2010 address to the Roman Curia, I thought surely the Pope didn’t say that! So I decided to give the self-styled Holy Father the benefit of the doubt and peruse his own words in context. While not as inflammatory as portions cited by some

FLEECING THE PEOPLE OF THE GOLDEN STATE

2010-09-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

I was guest on this program on Tuesday. Please listen and leave your comments. And check out the Poverty in America broadcast every week!

AVARICE IS THE ROOT OF ALL POLITICAL EVIL – PART II

2010-09-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

In Commemoration of Friday - Universal Corporate Layoff Day Wage earners have no say-so in most businesses. They are holes into which potential profits are drained away in the eyes of Company managers. Human Resources Departments have replaced Personnel Divisions in most Companies. A subtle but significant change. Personnel Divisions recognized the worth and value of

AVARICE IS THE ROOT OF ALL POLITICAL EVIL – PART I

2010-09-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

As the years progress, many of us remember carefree days of youth with growing fondness. Broke, but happy. Carefree. Free of cares about buying and selling, owning or possessing. In love with life, with friends, with somebody special. Filled with life. For some, those years were school years. For others, later. People mattered more than what we wore, drove or did for our

TRANSFIGURATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY

2010-08-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

Aftermath of Hiroshima A-Bomb August 6, 2010 is the 65th Anniversary of America’s immolation of Hiroshima in the first of our two field atomic bomb tests with live human subjects. As the Japanese had regarded everyone else as lesser forms of life in their treatment of our civilians and our soldiers when captured, we had determined early in the war that loss of Japanese civilian lives was a

THE MYTH OF THE MISSING MONEY

2010-05-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

We Americans are gullible people. Trusting that no public official would lie to us, we accept Official Pronouncements. from talking heads. We the People are flat broke and must tighten our belts. Except those of us holding all the cash. The real culprits are the scammers who have been squeezing American labor with undocumented workers and offshore sweatshops. Both groups are willing to perform

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

2010-04-15T19:03:00.000-07:00

The recent multi-fatality debacle in the Massey Energy mine further illustrates the perils of remote ownership of front-line American business operations by huge multi-national corporations. Massey Energy is the troubled coal division spun-off from Fluor Corporation. As in similar corporate setups, Massey takes the financial hits for its present and former shoddy practices,

AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN - OFFSHORING AIRLINE MAINTENANCE

2010-04-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

"An accident waiting to happen? Outsourcing raises air-safety concerns", an old article published in the March 2007 edition of Consumer Reports illuminates again. In August 2008, CR further reported in that major airlines had all engaged in the same practices: outsourcing maintenance in the USA and overseas to save money with disregard for the concerns raised in CR’s

ONE RIGHT CAN REPAIR A THOUSAND WRONGS

2010-03-12T21:44:00.000-08:00

In a blog dedicated to ending slavery, I would be remiss if I failed to mention those who are part of the solution. On a recent trip to San Francisco, I met with Julie Doherty, Major Gifts Manager for Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC), a nonprofit housing developer which has rehabbed or built 21 multi-family and single room occupancy apartment buildings in San Francisco since

CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE

2010-03-05T21:51:00.000-08:00

Nobody speaks of how Pharaoh is wallowing in gold, yet feels slighted if he can't get something for nothing from his poorest slave. His gold is better spent on enlightened financial speculation in markets (regal gambling) - in order to support the lifestyles of his wealthy sycophants. Perhaps acquisition of new and flashy (or old and distressed) mercantile concerns he knows

OUTSOURCING TERROR

2010-02-25T12:32:00.000-08:00

At Homeland Security, contractors outnumber federal workers according to an article by Ed O’Keefe in Washington Post today. When Advisor Ridge Discussed the establishment of the Homeland Security Department, it was immediately evident that unionization of employees was to be eschewed at all costs: “SECRETARY MINETA: Thank you very much, Governor Ridge. For the past 40

STATE OF THE UNION – DEMYSTIFIED - PART III

2010-02-23T20:15:00.000-08:00

PART III: A month later, I've had plenty of time to ruminate on the State of the Union while convalescing from the flu. Please check out my blog entries for PART I and PART II before tackling this lengthy entry covering the remainder of the President's speech. My comments are in boldface type, with hyperlinks. A glimmer of hope remains.--------------------------------------

STATE OF THE UNION – DEMYSTIFIED - PART II

2010-02-09T19:17:00.000-08:00

As the House and Senate are still trying to cobble together a jobs bill pursuant to President Obama’s speech, consider Mr. Obama’s words and the hidden truths behind them: --------------------------------------------------------------- “Now, as we stabilized the financial system, we also took steps to get our economy growing again, save as many jobs as possible, and help

STATE OF THE UNION DEMYSTIFIED - PART I

2010-02-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

I had hoped that President Obama would bring a voice of change to the nation, leading us away from our present trials. As I listened to his State of the Union speech, I listened between the lines to the real message behind the President’s speech. Perhaps he could not be as forthright as he would have liked due to concerns about bucking the multi-national corporations' game

Off-the-Clock Labor = Part Time Slavery

2009-09-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

Off-the-clock labor has become a standard U.S. business practice. For an eye-opening study of this and other elements of the state of labor in three major U.S. cities, check out the new study Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers* which can be downloaded from the website unprotectedworkers.org. Among other rampant violations, the study reported that almost a quarter of the

KATRINA - THEN AND NOW

2009-09-02T01:51:00.000-07:00

(Above) Hurricane Katrina Heading North towards the Delta(Below) Four years later, downtown New Orleans remains a shambles Public housing has been destroyed and pricey condos are being built in their stead. Former citizens have been forced to resettle as far away as Oakland, California. Hope of returning for poor people of color dims with each passing day. In the The face of American jurisprudence changes with confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the newest Supreme Court Justice, as reported in the LA Times on August 12, 2009 and elsewhere. As a Mexican-American, I gladly welcome the Latin-American to the highest Court in our land, hoping that she will bring greater balance and integrity to that august institution. I also

THE REAL DANGER OF THE NEW HEALTHCARE REFORM BILL

2009-08-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

I have seen the future of the present Healthcare "REFORM" Bill, and it is thus: The final Bill will be the same schlock as the Big Pharma-approved drug plan passed under Bush II - the whole pie will get siphoned up to the wealthiest Americans behind Big Pharma, Big Insurance and Big Healthnets - and it'll be a pie-pan in the sky for those in really in need. Now, that's true

ENSLAVING THROUGH "DEMOCRACY"

2009-07-30T03:03:00.000-07:00

The recent news story Britain and U.S. defend war effort in Afghanistan (Source - Reuters 07-29-2009) displays justification for another lynchpin in the preservation of ongoing overseas oppression by the Anglo-American Empire for all to see. Slavery in Great Britain may have formally ended prior to that in the USA, but England has maintained her own “peculiar institutions”

GATHERING OF HEARTS - UPDATE

2009-07-24T13:28:00.000-07:00

Rev. Al Sampson outside Brown Family Home in Lambert, Mississippi New Orleans City Council recognizes Gathering of Hearts work in the Mississippi Delta (follow link to recent You Tube video). This is public recognition of true grassroots organizing in action. Co-founder Antoinette Harrell and Photographer Walter

WATCH OUT FOR SLAVERY AND WORSE IN THE FINAL HEALTHCARE REFORM BILL!

2009-07-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

Watch the fine print in the final Bill eventually produced in conference between the House and Senate for telltales of 21st Century Slavery:Those least able to afford care will still be unable to receive quality careRural medical services will be slashed, forcing more impoverished Americans into the inner cityFront-line medical workers will have their wages reduced as "cost-cutting"

TIME FOR THE SUN TO SET ON SLAVERY IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND ITS AMERICAN CORPORATE COLONY - LET'S ORGANIZE A NATIONAL SHOPPING STRIKE LABOR DAY 2009

2009-07-16T04:24:00.000-07:00

21st Century Slavery is bigger and more pervasive than you realize. Incredibly, the TIMESONLINE (June 26, 2009) reports that British Airways has fooled and bullied 800 of its 40,000 employees to volunteer their time for the Company as if it were a charitable organization. William Wilberforce is spinning in his grave. Thousands more BA workers caved in to take voluntary

Link to videos on 20th and 21st Century Slavery

2009-07-16T01:42:00.000-07:00

Gathering of Hearts Co-Founder Antoinette Harrell's YouTube Videos give graphic details about slavery and peonage in the Mississippi Delta in the 20th Century, as well as current efforts to alleviate suffering from poverty, peonage and exploitation still practiced in the Mississippi Delta today.

SPIRITUAL SOURCE FOR JUSTIFICATION OF SLAVERY DEMYSTIFIED

2009-07-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

[Left: A Waterless place in the Nevada desert, East of Bishop, CA]One of the most shocking discoveries of my life is that well-meaning people of faith - Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist - plus a plethora of other belief systems, patriarchies, matriarchies and even atheists and anarchists - have seen fit to justify the cruel exploitation of workers in their employ. I'd say they've been blinded

Living Wage vs. Minimum Wage

2009-07-07T03:32:00.000-07:00

Along the trail to freedom, somebody forgot to add the "living wage" as a fundamental principle of American society. It should be illegal to acquire the labor of another human being for less than the cost of living in the area in which he/she is employed. The idea that the "marketplace" (which has an artificially low minimum wage) should determine the cost of labor is fatuous at best and sinister

Free OT = Part-Time Slavery

2009-07-05T23:46:00.000-07:00

An insidious common practice in America of abusing both “at-will” and union employees is flourishing. Multitudes of employers nationwide are telling employees that they cannot pay for hours worked beyond 8 per day/40 per week. Then they saddle the same folks with more work than can be completed within the allotted hours. Sometimes “managers” spend the bulk of their time working at the same tasks