Is the 1% taking over, state by state? I know I have said I would try to steer clear of politics in these blogs, but I just read an article by the investigative journalist Jane Mayer that has so upset me that I have to speak out somewhere, and here is as good a place as any.
Perhaps the scariest result of the Supreme Court striking down limits on corporate campaign spending is now being felt in North Carolina. One man, James Arthur (Art) Pope appears to be on a tear to take over the state and turn it into his private fiefdom, and a stronghold for very conservative Republicans. An article in the October 10, 2011, issue of The New Yorker magazine (I really need to catch up on my reading) examines how this one man seemingly has the clout and the dollars to stir up racism, hatred among political groups, and reductions in state funding for higher education.
According to the article, Pope and others believe that the state has no obligation to take care of its citizens; this should be left to the private sector. Pope is chairman and CEO of Variety Wholesalers, a discount store chain. He has been known to complain that having to pay his employees minimum wage has hurt those people who could be hired for less money.
What this man, and others like him, are doing to this country is terrible. It seems they are trying to turn it into their own private dominion. And we seem powerless to stop them.
I cannot begin to delineate the horrors this man and the groups he supports have unleashed on NC, but if you care to read about it yourself here is link: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer
Monday, March 12, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Chardon School Tragedy
"A third student has died." These words on Tuesday hit me like a blow to my heart. How could this be? How could even one student be dead? This was in Chardon, practically right next door. My thoughts immediately turned to the murder of my niece this last summer. She was older than these students from Chardon, but she was still so young, and her life was cut tragically short. So I know it happens. Why, then, does this new catastrophe hurt and shock so much?
Three students have died, one is still in the hospital, and one has been released from the hospital. How could this have happened here? Why does this happen at all? How does our society and lifestyle contribute to this, if at all? Or have there always been troubled kids, but they haven't had the means to act out so violently? How do we keep our kids safe from such violence? And from committing such violence? Is it even possible?
The big question—should guns be banned? I don't think so. There would then be as much illegal trafficking in guns as there is in drugs. We have to do the best we can in providing kids with safe places and in recognizing and helping kids who need help.
The killer did not kill himself, and is in custody. Maybe if they (whoever they are) can talk to him, they can begin to understand why someone, especially a young person, would do this. Does it have anything to do with the fact that a teenager's brain isn't fully developed yet? Is there something in a young person's lifestyle we should be watching for? If the family did not have guns would it have made a difference? We will never know. We can only hurt for the families who have lost so much, for the students who will never forget, for the teachers trying to deal with the aftermath, and for the community that has lost so much.
Three students have died, one is still in the hospital, and one has been released from the hospital. How could this have happened here? Why does this happen at all? How does our society and lifestyle contribute to this, if at all? Or have there always been troubled kids, but they haven't had the means to act out so violently? How do we keep our kids safe from such violence? And from committing such violence? Is it even possible?
The big question—should guns be banned? I don't think so. There would then be as much illegal trafficking in guns as there is in drugs. We have to do the best we can in providing kids with safe places and in recognizing and helping kids who need help.
The killer did not kill himself, and is in custody. Maybe if they (whoever they are) can talk to him, they can begin to understand why someone, especially a young person, would do this. Does it have anything to do with the fact that a teenager's brain isn't fully developed yet? Is there something in a young person's lifestyle we should be watching for? If the family did not have guns would it have made a difference? We will never know. We can only hurt for the families who have lost so much, for the students who will never forget, for the teachers trying to deal with the aftermath, and for the community that has lost so much.
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