A tremendous breakdown of the peoples, circumstances and legal cases that indirectly led to the 1954 landmark civil rights supreme court decision of Brown vs Board of Education (school desegregation). The story begins with one colored army veteran suffering racial discrimination when unjustly beaten and blinded by a southern police chief. From this one tragic thread the author creatively weaves together a multi-colored quilt of facts and fallout that ripple their way onto the highest stage of American justice.
Learning about the courageous civil rights efforts of a president (Truman), judges, supreme court justices, lawyers and many other professionals (Orson Welles), I still found the most courageous of all to be the blinded colored veteran Sgt. Issac Woodard, who moved on with his life and never let the brutal injustice he suffered define him as a man. One proud colored man in uniform helped encourage so many others to stand up and do what is expected of good leading men to do; uphold their oath to protect the constitutional laws of a country and when in doubt challenge what those laws stand for. If you're man enough to take an oath, be man enough to defend it when under fire.
OPEN FORUM On Democratizing the Economy Banking On The People By Marc Armstrong (2012)
A public bank functions like a private bank but the ownership resides exclusively with the government, whether state, county or city. Why would we even need to consider creating another bank, when we seemingly have one on every corner in many areas of San Francisco? Bank of America has been occupying City Hall for far too long - it uses our public tax revenues for its own benefit. Maybe it's time to look at public banking as an alternative.
Don't confuse banks with available credit, something that is part of public policy in other countries, states and municipalities. As we saw in 2008 and continuing to this very day, it was a credit crisis that caused the recession. Many businesses ceased expansion and now hoard cash. Tax revenue shortfalls have led to the government balancing its budgets on the backs of the working class.
The bankers were bailed out by the American taxpayer in 2008 but, what about the City of San Francisco? Was it offered loans at 0.25 percent by the Federal Reserve? Did it receive 100 cents on the dollar for "poorly performing" assets? No? Well, maybe we should create a bank simply to level the playing field for all members of the public.
Why give our money to Bank of America, only to have it lend us our own money at high interest rates or with ridiculous fees? We could hold onto our money, save quite a bit in fees, and lend it back to ourselves and to the businesses and people of San Francisco at more affordable rates.
In 2008, Ellen Brown authored "The Web of Debt," an analysis of the U.S. banking system that now is even more pertinent in light of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The thesis is that the power to create money has been usurped by a private international banking cartel, which issues our money as debt and lends it back to us at interest. The cartel makes it appear that governments are creating our money, and governments get blamed when things go wrong; but they are just pawns of the cartel.
We the people can regain our government and our republic only by reclaiming the power to create our own money. We can use the same credit system that private banks use, but administer it as a public utility - that is, monitored and overseen by public servants on the model of libraries and courts. To be a sustainable system, profits need to be returned to the community rather than siphoned off into private coffers.
Other countries recognize that the money supply should serve both a private and public function. Germany's state-backed Landesbanks and smaller foundation-owned Sparkassen banks were able to dominate the credit market throughout post-war Germany. Switzerland has the WIR (from the German word Wirtschaftsring) Bank, a business membership exchange that funds loans in two currencies - the Swiss Franc and bank-issued WIR credits. And in North Dakota, the state-owned Bank of North Dakota has a commercial lending program that requires one new hire for every $100,000 that is loaned.
How's that for a job program? This is a public policy that uses credit for the good of the people. Marc Armstrong is executive director of the nonprofit Public Banking Institute, the host of the "Future of Banking Summit" in Philadelphia in February.
Nov. 5 - Bank Transfer Day Saturday has been dubbed Bank Transfer Day by grassroots activists upset with rising bank fees. Consumers are being encouraged by Bank Transfer Day organizers, including the Move Your Money project, to switch their accounts to credit unions or community banks on that day.
https://www.publicbankinginstitute.org/ Public Banking Institute is a partner of the Move Your Money project, a nonprofit campaign that encourages individuals and institutions to divest from the nation's largest Wall Street banks and move to local financial institutions.
A favorite story of mine that continues to reveal hidden wisdom as I age. I believe that Ramu represents living free from material wants and needs. He suffers and understands that suffering is something that one with faith in God simply endures; as opposed to avoids. I believe he sometimes, when feeling helpless, wants more from God but knows he is only what God has given him and is once again grateful for life. Only a poor old beggar could curse God for his condition and then in the next breath repent and give thanks for still having at least the gift of good eyesight. Accepting one’s role in life, though others may question God’s favor or disfavor placed on you, is this story’s lesson. Ramu is a soul aware of his role and his God. And that big, glittering diamond could be the very thing that distracts so many of us from God's grace and steers us toward chasing and worshiping that false and temporary God; money.
The Astros organization used a video camera in center field to film the opposing catchers' signs to the pitchers. I'm getting sick and tired of all the Cheating going on in our society today. From Corporations to Politicians to Professional Sports, the cheating has taken over the American idea of fair and ethical participation. And what's even worse is the penalty when caught, if any, does not fit the crime. Whatever happened to Truth or Consequences?
When the Houston Astros were playing championship baseball in 2017, I was happily rooting for them as they beatdown the Yankees and Dodgers. Though my SF Giants had to sit out the MLB Postseason I was locked into the games just to see the amazing Astros and their Giants-like push toward a World Series. They were a loveable bunch of players making clutch plays in thrilling games.
When it was recently revealed that the Astros used technology to steal pitching signals from opposing teams I was completely deflated. I thought, "come'on, say it ain't so Altuve." Then came the apologies, and confirmation that "Everybody was in the Loop." Nobody in the Astros organization can claim innocence. Silence in the face of cheating is complicity. The fact that they won a World Series should be proof that the cheating paid off. For the Astros owner to publicly state that he felt the cheating didn't affect the outcome is exactly what Corporate and Political cheaters do when caught with their hand in the cookie jar; deny the advantage that cheating gives. Don't they know that we know that's why organizations cheat in the first place? to gain an advantage over the competition.
My advice to Major League Baseball is to either have the Astros immediately "Forfeit" an entire baseball season and/or "Forfeit" the following championships:
2017 ALDS, ALCS and WS 2018 ALDS 2019 ALDS, ALCS
If the league continues to treat this factual cheating scandal with what seems like a Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney attitude, "We do that all the time; Get Over It!," I may find myself attending Little League Baseball games this season just to get a glimpse of what America's past-time was like before video cam cheating became the norm. Imagine what the tech-savy little leaguers are learning from this scandal; Cheating and Crime Pay$, time to get paid.
Come'on MLB, Your better than this. Whaddaya think this is, Trump's White House foreign policy? Its Baseball for crying out loud. And I can't just get over it.
.jpg)
