Outside Agitators and the Black Lives Matter Movement

I support the Black Lives Matter Movement. Our current de-professionalized standing army police forces oppress everyone. Professional police aren't supposed to do that, but militarized police do. And while they oppress everyone, they oppress minority populations the most. They oppress black folks in large numbers way out of proportion to their population. And they oppress Indigenous persons statistically at the greatest percentage rate. This has to end. And every progressive needs to embrace this cause, because economic equity requires justice and fairness in distribution of public good as well as equality in opportunity. If a person can't safely drive to or home from work, then they don't have liberty they are being oppressed.

And I understand radicalism. It is very tempting to become more radical as more and more evidence is available of the plots and sociopathic programs of powerful people with very little sense, compassion or even empathy for others. It is easy to divide the world into white and black and hate those who don't clearly understand how hurt one is. But that is not how you make progress.

Henry George on the Income Tax and Monopoly

This post is designed to analyze an excerpt from Henry George's writings

Henry George wrote on the Income Tax in 1887:

"The world calls on me to abandon my absurd theory of taxing land values and to support instead an income tax as a means of relieving working people of unjust burdens"

He didn't reject it outright. But he did have caveats:

"If the world sees me further, and is prepared to advocate an income tax in lieu of other means of raising public revenue, or any considerable part of it - as for instance, that now collected at our custom houses by onerous duties upon the bringing into the country of things the people want - it would give me much pleasure and would do a great public service."

Here he's advocating the core principle of progressive taxation. It's not about punishing people, but it is about equity, "fairness or justice in the way people are treated." When the Income tax was first created it's primary goal was "unearned income", which included income from "other people's money", the money privilege and other forms of privilege, and did not normally apply to ordinary wages. Such a tax was far superior to the existing taxes which burdened workers, farmers and other ordinary people.

Billionaires Privateering on the high seas of Education

Modern privateers don't come across with eye patches or peg legs. And they don't wear fancy hats or run for President (except for the Donald) . They mostly work behind the scenes, with PR firms, "charitable donations" and paid think tanks doing their bidding. They run flotillas of law firms, PR firms, faux think tanks manned by men in suits. Sometimes they seem to even have convinced themselves that they are doing charity, doing good with their money, and that they are the "heros." But in reality these pirate fleets do as much or more, with the power of finance and undue influence, than their Sea Dog forebears ever could do. This is the case with education Anti-Reform. The only way you can sniff out who is in it for the public benefit is and who is doing "'private, separate advantage" and buccaneering, sometimes, is to dig into where the money is going.

The Southern Revanchist takeover of the GOP

There is a great article today In a Blog by Doug Muder, titled The Weakly Sift, titled "Not a Tea Party, a Confederate Party" [Not a Tea Party] which so expresses what I've been feeling for some time. That it adds some additional clarity. He writes about how Lincoln agonized about the Civil war, while he realized after after reading the book "Jefferson Davis, American" that Jefferson Davis wanted to prolong it. He then notes that, although the USA won the first part of the civil war:

"Here’s what my teachers’ should have told me: “Reconstruction was the second phase of the Civil War. It lasted until 1877, when the Confederates won.” I think that would have gotten my attention." Weekly Sift]

The Campaign against the 7th Amendment right to trial by Jury

I believe that the right to a Jury trial in Civil trials is a fundamental right that ought to be up to the discretion of the litigants and not the judges. And I believe that the 7th Amendment establishes that right. I also believe that it is our Justices and Legislators who are infringing on that right by denying people access to Jury trials, illegally reducing their findings of fact on Jury awards, and using "standing" arguments to deny due process in civil proceedings.

Jury Trials, Judicial Tyranny and the Seventh Amendment

I believe that people have a 7th Amendment right to a jury trial in civil proceedings if they wish it and that the case for that is established in the history of Common Law and the creation of the 7th amendment.

Food Hubs and Transportation

Our system is vulnerable to interruptions. It is especially vulnerable to interruptions in food supply. Currently we import food from as Far away as China and Chile, India and Africa. That's okay. But what happens if our traffic gets disrupted? What happens when in some future moment there is a massive drought in the West and the wells run dry? We can feed and electrify our lands now. The concepts are there. All that is needed is the execution. One of the projects I'm working on is supporting DC's efforts to create food hubs. this blog entry is based on that effort:

Food Hubs and Food Security

The following image is from a brochure on Food Hubs in DC by Sabine O’Hara:

And she writes:

"Food security demands a diversified food system that includes urban communities as locations for food production, food preparation, food distribution, and waste reduction/reuse. The Urban Food Hubs concept of the College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES) of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) tests the feasibility of small-scale urban food systems that include these four key components."

It's possible to produce food everywhere, and set up means to get it to everyone.

"The heart of the CAUSES Urban Food Hubs are high efficiency food production sites that utilize bio-intensive, aquaponic, and hydroponic production methods. Co-located with these urban food production sites are commercial kitchens that serve as business incubators and training facilities for food processing and nutritional health related activities. Given their location in urban neighborhoods, the Urban Food Hubs also focus on waste reduction and reuse through composting, water management, and related approaches to minimizing pressure on urban land and infrastructure systems. In addition to improving food security, the Urban Food Hubs thus also contribute to job creation and urban sustainability in its economic, social/cultural, and environmental/physical dimensions." [www.thesolutionsjournal.org]

The goal here is to encourage a system that is fair to both cities, that are often currently food deserts and to rural areas that are usually money deserts, subject to abusive extraction and constant looting, and yet could be in a symbiotic relationship with the cities were it not for our centralizing organizations.

At one private Grocery chains acted like Food hubs. But conglomeratization and buyouts have led to them failing in that role. In my area Giant has become a giant company operating out of Holland. Safeway also a conglomerate. And they aren't even interested in serving under-served areas. They mostly seem to compete for the same yuppy upper middle class neighborhoods.

We obviously need an alternative, and reformed, system. And I'm working with friends to build one.

From Her Article: Key Concepts

• Food security demands a diversified food system that includes urban communities as locations for food production, food preparation, food distribution, and waste reduction/ reuse.
• The Urban Food Hubs concept of the College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES) of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) tests the feasibility of small-scale urban food systems that include these four components.
• The Urban Food Hubs are centered on high efficiency food production systems including bio-intensive, aquaponic, and hydroponic production, commercial kitchens that serve as training facilities, and business incubators.
• In addition to improving food security, the Urban Food Hubs contribute to job creation and urban sustainability in its economic, social/cultural, and environmental/physical dimensions.

Further Readings:

http://www.thesolutionsjournal.org/

Got Food? How Local Food Systems Can Build Resilience for Turbulent Times

Safeway:

"AB Acquisition LLC, and Safeway completed a merger that created one of the largest food and drug retailers in the country, with over 2,200 stores in 33 states and the District of Columbia, and employing approximately 265,000 people. With Safeway stores in 19 states"

http://www.safeway.com/ShopStores/Our-Story.page