The corrupt and the ruthless is all the Republican Party has to offer.

The lack of morality when it comes to global natural resources has been devastating. The heat within the troposphere is proof. 

The USA used to be a great leader, but, today it is simply a shell of itself whereby corporations have the same rights as people. To say the government is perverse is a reasonable statement. 

Reagan was responsible for the modern day Republican immorality of protecting human health. He enjoyed many scandals during his years in the White House, his "Sewergate" was only one.

February 9, 2012
By Joel Dyer 

...When it comes to the public record (click here) concerning the 103-acre property now owned by the City of Boulder on Valmont Butte, all roads lead to Rome, or more specifically, all roads lead to 1982. Even the remediation that has taken place at the butte in recent years seems to flow from assumptions made and actions taken, right or wrong, around this critical period. To put this slice of time into context, we must go back a ways.

The City’s tract of land at Valmont Butte was owned by Allied Chemical from 1941 to 1974. The chemical giant operated a fluorspar mill on the site during this period. While the site was also used as a gold and silver mill as well as a fluorspar mill by other parties for approximately six years prior to Allied’s acquisition of the property, and also as a gold mill for a few years after it was sold, it was Allied’s actions that accounted for the vast majority of the tailings contamination at the site.

It is estimated that more than 430,000 net tons of radioactive tailings containing significant levels of heavy metals, primarily lead and arsenic, are buried at the site in the primary and secondary tailings ponds (see map on page 14). As the map also indicates, radio active hot spots and lead-contaminated soils are found on many areas outside the ponds as well. In addition, between 150 and 200 truckloads of radium-contaminated soil were buried in two holes at the site in 1971. This radium-contaminated soil came from a construction site at Third and Pearl streets in Boulder, where the Housing Authority of the City of Boulder (HACB) was building a low-income housing project when the contamination was discovered and transported to the butte.

As important as what was contaminating the site in the years leading up to 1982 was the evidence that had been gathered by state and county health officials that indicated that nearby properties and water supplies were also being contaminated by Allied’s milling operation....

Father like Son. Scott Walker's "Sewergate." Scott Walker needs to be held responsible for the underhanded agenda of his administration. He is not blameless. The only other possibility is that he was an absent landlord except for filling his elections coffers day after day. The King of Rhetoric was far to busy to ever be a governor.

Outraged residents of Concord, WI (click here) packed the Town Hall on Monday night to voice their concerns about the stink raised by Ron Seely’s recent report in the Wisconsin State Journal. Seely was looking into the question of, “how the political and business ties of top DNR administrators appointed by Gov. Scott Walker are influencing their handling of law enforcement cases.”...

...Kimberlee Wright of Midwest Environmental Advocates was involved with obtaining all of the DNR investigation records that led to the Wisconsin State Journal article. She attended the meeting and described the potential dangers to public health when scientists aren’t allowed to do their jobs due to political influence at the top. She also encouraged Ingersoll and others to seek copies of the investigative record, since it has all of the information they need to understand the scope and severity of the problem.

Seely’s report noted that the Deputy Secretary of the DNR, Matt Moroney, recused himself from handling the case because he was “acquainted with another officer of Herr Environmental.” That would be Todd Stair, Vice President of Herr Environmental who also serves on the advisory board of the Metropolitan Builders Association. Moroney was Executive Director of that organization before he was tapped by Walker-appointed DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp to be her Deputy in late 2010. A builder by profession, Stepp has also served as a member and on the board of the Metropolitan Builders Association....

Conservation Easements have never been more valuable.

July 14, 2015
By Keila Szpaller

Farmer and rancher Denny Iverson answers questions from land managers from around the world Tuesday afternoon in the Potomac Valley as part of the International Seminar on Protected Area Management.

...To keep the land, (click here) Iverson hammered out a conservation easement with the Five Valleys Land Trust to protect the property from development. He also worked on a new plan for retirement, one that meant making the ranch more productive.

The conservation easement is an idea stewardship manager Jenny Tollefson views as a manifestation of Iverson's private property rights, his power to protect the land in perpetuity. Five Valleys is one of 12 land trusts in the state, one of 1,500 in the country, and it holds some 145 easements in western Montana.

"It doesn't matter who owns this land. Forever, it will remain ... a largely undeveloped landscape," Tollefson said.

On Tuesday, some 24 land managers who are participants in the University of Montana Wilderness Institute's annual International Seminar on Protected Area Management stood in a half circle around Iverson, on a corner of his acreage used for calving, and heard his story. 

The institute is part of the UM School of Forestry and Conservation, and the seminar examines strategies to conserve the world's special places. From its base in Missoula, the group will visit national forests, wilderness areas, the Flathead Indian Reservation and Yellowstone National Park, among other places.
"What better place than Missoula to bring this diverse group from around the world to explore public landscapes in the western U.S. as an inspiration?" said Wilderness Institute director Natalie Dawson....

II. THE GLOBALIZATION OF THE TECHNOCRATIC PARADIGM


106. The basic problem goes even deeper: it is the way that humanity has taken up technology and its development according to an undifferentiated and one-dimensional paradigm. This paradigm exalts the concept of a subject who, using logical and rational procedures, progressively approaches and gains control over an external object. This subject makes every effort to establish the scientific and experimental method, which in itself is already a technique of possession, mastery and transformation. It is as if the subject were to find itself in the presence of something formless, completely open to manipulation. Men and women have constantly intervened in nature, but for a long time this meant being in tune with and respecting the possibilities offered by the things themselves. It was a matter of receiving what nature itself allowed, as if from its own hand. Now, by contrast, we are the ones to lay our hands on things, attempting to extract everything possible from them while frequently ignoring or forgetting the reality in front of us. Human beings and material objects no longer extend a friendly hand to one another; the relationship has become confrontational. This has made it easy to accept the idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology. It is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth’s goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry beyond every limit. It is the false notion that “an infinite quantity of energy and resources are available, that it is possible to renew them quickly, and that the negative effects of the exploitation of the natural order can be easily absorbed”.[86]

107. It can be said that many problems of today’s world stem from the tendency, at times unconscious, to make the method and aims of science and technology an epistemological paradigm which shapes the lives of individuals and the workings of society. The effects of imposing this model on reality as a whole, human and social, are seen in the deterioration of the environment, but this is just one sign of a reductionism which affects every aspect of human and social life. We have to accept that technological products are not neutral, for they create a framework which ends up conditioning lifestyles and shaping social possibilities along the lines dictated by the interests of certain powerful groups. Decisions which may seem purely instrumental are in reality decisions about the kind of society we want to build.

108. The idea of promoting a different cultural paradigm and employing technology as a mere instrument is nowadays inconceivable. The technological paradigm has become so dominant that it would be difficult to do without its resources and even more difficult to utilize them without being dominated by their internal logic. It has become countercultural to choose a lifestyle whose goals are even partly independent of technology, of its costs and its power to globalize and make us all the same. Technology tends to absorb everything into its ironclad logic, and those who are surrounded with technology “know full well that it moves forward in the final analysis neither for profit nor for the well-being of the human race”, that “in the most radical sense of the term power is its motive – a lordship over all”.[87] As a result, “man seizes hold of the naked elements of both nature and human nature”.[88] Our capacity to make decisions, a more genuine freedom and the space for each one’s alternative creativity are diminished.

Has Wall Street created an "Overlord" that the West cannot abandon.

109. The technocratic paradigm also tends to dominate economic and political life. The economy accepts every advance in technology with a view to profit, without concern for its potentially negative impact on human beings. Finance overwhelms the real economy. The lessons of the global financial crisis have not been assimilated, and we are learning all too slowly the lessons of environmental deterioration. Some circles maintain that current economics and technology will solve all environmental problems, and argue, in popular and non-technical terms, that the problems of global hunger and poverty will be resolved simply by market growth. They are less concerned with certain economic theories which today scarcely anybody dares defend, than with their actual operation in the functioning of the economy. They may not affirm such theories with words, but nonetheless support them with their deeds by showing no interest in more balanced levels of production, a better distribution of wealth, concern for the environment and the rights of future generations. Their behaviour shows that for them maximizing profits is enough. Yet by itself the market cannot guarantee integral human development and social inclusion.[89] At the same time, we have “a sort of ‘superdevelopment’ of a wasteful and consumerist kind which forms an unacceptable contrast with the ongoing situations of dehumanizing deprivation”,[90] while we are all too slow in developing economic institutions and social initiatives which can give the poor regular access to basic resources. We fail to see the deepest roots of our present failures, which have to do with the direction, goals, meaning and social implications of technological and economic growth.

Friends of the Earth: Decision is beginning of the end for troubled nuclear plant

May 21, 2015
 
WASHINGTON - In a major victory (click here) that could mark the beginning of the end for the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors (click here), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners have ruled that an Atomic Safety Licensing Board will decide whether Pacific Gas & Electric Co. was allowed to illegally alter the plant's license. This alteration is an attempt to hide the risk from powerful earthquake faults discovered since it was designed and built. The Commission’s referral of the issue to the licensing board parallels a move that presaged the shutdown of Southern California Edison’s San Onofre nuclear plant two years ago.

Wall Street is ruthless. It has no conscience. It might have the loyalties of an activist Supreme Court, but, this level of 'gall' in dealing with the US government only speaks to the hubris the CEOs live within to facilitate profits, hence, bonuses.

Why is it the Supreme Court believes a wallet without a mind is actually a person? Corporations are not people, they execute no other human characteristics except greed.
 
“This is a major victory that could be the turning point for a nuclear-free future for California,” said Damon Moglen of Friends of the Earth, which had petitioned the NRC, saying that the secret amendment of the license was an illegal maneuver designed to avoid holding a public hearing on the issue as required by federal law. “PG&E now is following the same path that forced Southern California Edison to pull the plug on San Onofre,” Moglen said.

In a 3 -1 ruling released today, commissioners ruled that Friends of the Earth’s petition will now be considered by an expert panel of the licensing board. Friends of the Earth alleged that PG&E is operating the 1960-era nuclear reactors at Diablo Canyon in violation of their license and called for the reactors to be closed immediately pending public hearings to prove it is safe....

I. TECHNOLOGY: CREATIVITY AND POWER


102. Humanity has entered a new era in which our technical prowess has brought us to a crossroads. We are the beneficiaries of two centuries of enormous waves of change: steam engines, railways, the telegraph, electricity, automobiles, aeroplanes, chemical industries, modern medicine, information technology and, more recently, the digital revolution, robotics, biotechnologies and nanotechnologies. It is right to rejoice in these advances and to be excited by the immense possibilities which they continue to open up before us, for “science and technology are wonderful products of a God-given human creativity”.[81] The modification of nature for useful purposes has distinguished the human family from the beginning; technology itself “expresses the inner tension that impels man gradually to overcome material limitations”.[82] Technology has remedied countless evils which used to harm and limit human beings. How can we not feel gratitude and appreciation for this progress, especially in the fields of medicine, engineering and communications? How could we not acknowledge the work of many scientists and engineers who have provided alternatives to make development sustainable?

That is the dilemma, isn't it? Discerning with is good and benevolent and that which is not.


103. Technoscience, when well directed, can produce important means of improving the quality of human life, from useful domestic appliances to great transportation systems, bridges, buildings and public spaces. It can also produce art and enable men and women immersed in the material world to “leap” into the world of beauty. Who can deny the beauty of an aircraft or a skyscraper? Valuable works of art and music now make use of new technologies. So, in the beauty intended by the one who uses new technical instruments and in the contemplation of such beauty, a quantum leap occurs, resulting in a fulfilment which is uniquely human.


104. Yet it must also be recognized that nuclear energy, biotechnology, information technology, knowledge of our DNA, and many other abilities which we have acquired, have given us tremendous power. More precisely, they have given those with the knowledge, and especially the economic resources to use them, an impressive dominance over the whole of humanity and the entire world. Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely, particularly when we consider how it is currently being used. We need but think of the nuclear bombs dropped in the middle of the twentieth century, or the array of technology which Nazism, Communism and other totalitarian regimes have employed to kill millions of people, to say nothing of the increasingly deadly arsenal of weapons available for modern warfare. In whose hands does all this power lie, or will it eventually end up? It is extremely risky for a small part of humanity to have it.


105. There is a tendency to believe that every increase in power means “an increase of ‘progress’ itself”, an advance in “security, usefulness, welfare and vigour; …an assimilation of new values into the stream of culture”,[83] as if reality, goodness and truth automatically flow from technological and economic power as such. The fact is that “contemporary man has not been trained to use power well”,[84] because our immense technological development has not been accompanied by a development in human responsibility, values and conscience. Each age tends to have only a meagre awareness of its own limitations. It is possible that we do not grasp the gravity of the challenges now before us. “The risk is growing day by day that man will not use his power as he should”; in effect, “power is never considered in terms of the responsibility of choice which is inherent in freedom” since its “only norms are taken from alleged necessity, from either utility or security”.[85] But human beings are not completely autonomous. Our freedom fades when it is handed over to the blind forces of the unconscious, of immediate needs, of self-interest, and of violence. In this sense, we stand naked and exposed in the face of our ever-increasing power, lacking the wherewithal to control it. We have certain superficial mechanisms, but we cannot claim to have a sound ethics, a culture and spirituality genuinely capable of setting limits and teaching clear-minded self-restraint.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a major victory that could mark the beginning of the end for the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners have ruled that an Atomic Safety Licensing Board will decide whether Pacific Gas & Electric Co. was allowed to illegally alter the plant's license. This alteration is an attempt to hide the risk from powerful earthquake faults discovered since it was designed and built. The Commission’s referral of the issue to the licensing board parallels a move that presaged the shutdown of Southern California Edison’s San Onofre nuclear plant two years ago.
“This is a major victory that could be the turning point for a nuclear-free future for California,” said Damon Moglen of Friends of the Earth, which had petitioned the NRC, saying that the secret amendment of the license was an illegal maneuver designed to avoid holding a public hearing on the issue as required by federal law. “PG&E now is following the same path that forced Southern California Edison to pull the plug on San Onofre,” Moglen said.
- See more at: http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2015-05-federal-ruling-calls-future-of-diablo-into-question#sthash.d8JxUx0R.dpuf

Local economies and their special needs are reasons for inventions to take place.

Ridgefield: April Thatcher of April Joy Farms demonstrates her creeper tractor for a tour group from the Washington State Conservation Commission. (handout)

July 25, 2015
By The Columbian

Ridgefield — For the first time since 2006, (click here) the Clark Conservation District hosted a tour for the Washington State Conservation Commission, bringing local, state, federal and tribal leaders to Ridgefield to discuss natural resources conservation and agriculture. 

The group toured farms in Ridgefield, including Arwana Farms and April Joy Farm, where the farms' owners met with the group and talked about how Clark Conservation has helped them. 

Bill Kennedy, owner of Arwana, told the group how Clark Conservation covered part of the cost to install a manure solids separator and storage shed.

April and Brad Thatcher of April Joy Farm discussed the challenges that they and other small farms face in Clark County with urban development, and running a successful community supported agriculture program, delivering boxes of fresh, organic produce to local clients from June through November....

Indeed!

CHAPTER THREE

THE HUMAN ROOTS OF THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS

101. It would hardly be helpful to describe symptoms without acknowledging the human origins of the ecological crisis. A certain way of understanding human life and activity has gone awry, to the serious detriment of the world around us. Should we not pause and consider this? At this stage, I propose that we focus on the dominant technocratic paradigm and the place of human beings and of human action in the world.

People acting against the best climate outcomes for Americans should be held accountable.

July 26, 2015
By Tamela Baker

In the eyes of Maryland Business for Responsive Government, (click here) which released its legislative report card last week, the Washington County delegation to the Maryland General Assembly had compiled an impressive record this year.

But to an environment-minded political action group, not so much.

The Maryland League of Conservation Voters has just released its own 2015 scorecard, which ranks legislators by their votes on environmental issues during the General Assembly session that ended in April.

The group ranked state senators by their votes on four pieces of legislation, and members of the House of Delegates according to their votes on three bills the group deemed important for the environment. Legislators had mixed reactions to the ratings.

Senators were ranked by their votes on a "fracking" moratorium, which prohibits permits for hydraulic fracturing for natural gas until Oct. 1, 2017; a bill to strengthen liability should fracking damage health, property or the environment; a stormwater remediation bill and a bill for a commission on climate change....

July 26, 2015
By Megan Barnes 

South Bay residents (click here) largely met water conservation targets during the first month of statewide restrictions, officials say, but some property owners on the Palos Verdes Peninsula who fell short will see drought surcharges on their water bills.

June was the first month when regulators began comparing regional water use to what it was in 2013. Under Gov. Jerry Brown’s 25 percent mandate for conservation, water agencies face fines of up to $10,000 a day if the numbers aren’t met by February 2016.

The beach cities, which were given a goal of 20 percent, came in right on target, with Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach saving 20.1 percent, according to California Water Service Co., and Manhattan Beach saving 20.3 percent, according to Public Works Director Tony Olmos.

Carson and Torrance residents served by Cal Water conserved 23 percent in June — exceeding their goal of 16 percent — but when lumped in with commercial and industrial customers, the entire region actually increased its use by 1 percent, according to spokeswoman Yvonne Kingman....

98. Jesus lived in full harmony with creation, and others were amazed: “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” (Mt 8:27). His appearance was not that of an ascetic set apart from the world, nor of an enemy to the pleasant things of life. Of himself he said: “The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard!’” (Mt 11:19). He was far removed from philosophies which despised the body, matter and the things of the world. Such unhealthy dualisms, nonetheless, left a mark on certain Christian thinkers in the course of history and disfigured the Gospel. Jesus worked with his hands, in daily contact with the matter created by God, to which he gave form by his craftsmanship. It is striking that most of his life was dedicated to this task in a simple life which awakened no admiration at all: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?” (Mk 6:3). In this way he sanctified human labour and endowed it with a special significance for our development. As Saint John Paul II taught, “by enduring the toil of work in union with Christ crucified for us, man in a way collaborates with the Son of God for the redemption of humanity”.[79]

Jesus in these passages portray a man undesirous of a sword to define his manhood. Jesus is viewed by most as one appreciative of the creation given him. A man in awe of the natural world. An appreciation of the ability of Earth to provide food, water and shelter.


99. In the Christian understanding of the world, the destiny of all creation is bound up with the mystery of Christ, present from the beginning: “All things have been created though him and for him” (Col 1:16).[80] The prologue of the Gospel of John (1:1-18) reveals Christ’s creative work as the Divine Word (Logos). But then, unexpectedly, the prologue goes on to say that this same Word “became flesh” (Jn 1:14). One Person of the Trinity entered into the created cosmos, throwing in his lot with it, even to the cross. From the beginning of the world, but particularly through the incarnation, the mystery of Christ is at work in a hidden manner in the natural world as a whole, without thereby impinging on its autonomy. 

He was born in a manger. There is every reason to believe he would never betray his beginning.


This is entitled "Angels Announcing the Birth of Christ to the Shepherds" by Govert Flinch in 1639. It stands the Louvre.

100. The New Testament does not only tell us of the earthly Jesus and his tangible and loving relationship with the world. It also shows him risen and glorious, present throughout creation by his universal Lordship: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col 1:19-20). This leads us to direct our gaze to the end of time, when the Son will deliver all things to the Father, so that “God may be everything to every one” (1 Cor 15:28). Thus, the creatures of this world no longer appear to us under merely natural guise because the risen One is mysteriously holding them to himself and directing them towards fullness as their end. The very flowers of the field and the birds which his human eyes contemplated and admired are now imbued with his radiant presence.

July 26, 2015
By Cindy Snyder
 
JEROME
Conservation practices (click here) help protect soil and water resources, but it takes people to implement those practices on the ground.

People like David Mezes. For nearly 30 years, he has been in charge of managing everything not related to cows at Si-Ellen Dairy near Jerome — in other words, making sure the manure and effluent generated on the farm are used in ways that benefit crops and help the environment.

“For the long-term sustainability of the business, conservation makes sense,” Mezes said. “If we over apply manure and ruin the ground, we won’t have any feed for the cattle.

“And I don’t have to stay awake at night wondering where our ‘manure’ is,” he added.

Mezes used a different word but the meaning is clear. Taking care of manure and treating it as a valuable resource is a priority for the family-run business.

That was a message that conservation leaders and livestock industry representatives wanted to convey to officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality during a barnstorming tour of conservation practices across southern Idaho. But they also pushed EPA to improve relationships with farmers and ranchers....

This is the Pope's words. I am not needed to add anything.

VII. THE GAZE OF JESUS

96. Jesus took up the biblical faith in God the Creator, emphasizing a fundamental truth: God is Father (cf. Mt 11:25). In talking with his disciples, Jesus would invite them to recognize the paternal relationship God has with all his creatures. With moving tenderness he would remind them that each one of them is important in God’s eyes: “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God” (Lk 12:6). “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (Mt 6:26).

97. The Lord was able to invite others to be attentive to the beauty that there is in the world because he himself was in constant touch with nature, lending it an attention full of fondness and wonder. As he made his way throughout the land, he often stopped to contemplate the beauty sown by his Father, and invited his disciples to perceive a divine message in things: “Lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest” (Jn 4:35). “The kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but once it has grown, it is the greatest of plants” (Mt 13:31-32).

First, just a little housekeeping.

It's Sunday Night.













"Blow out that cherry bomb with me."

I don't like the sexual suggestion, especially when it appears within programing for young people.

"The Prayer" by Celine Dion (and Josh Groban) (click here for Dion's official website)

I pray you'll be our eyes, and watch us where we go.
And help us to be wise in times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer, when we lose our way
Lead us to a place, guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe

La luce che tu hai
I pray we'll find your light
nel cuore restera
and hold it in our hearts.
a ricordarci che
When stars go out each night,
eterna stella sei

Nella mia preghiera
Let this be our prayer
quanta fede c'e
when shadows fill our day

Lead us to a place, guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe

Sognamo un mondo senza piu violenza
un mondo di giustizia e di speranza
Ognuno dia la mano al suo vicino
Simbolo di pace, di fraternita

La forza che ci da
We ask that life be kind
e il desiderio che
and watch us from above
ognuno trovi amor
We hope each soul will find
intorno e dentro se
another soul to love

Let this be our prayer
Let this be our prayer 
Just like every child
Just like every child

Lead us to a place, guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe

E la fede che
hai acceso in noi,
sento che ci salvera

The racism never stops, does it?

#blacklivesmatter 

This # is a statement. It states there is a problem. We know for a fact there is and no one should get away with the idea Blacks in America have the problem or Blacks in America make their own problem.

#alllivesmatter is completely unnecessary a statement. It has no purpose. If all lives matter then why the hashtag. Because all life don't matter? Where is there logic in that, except, for furthering an expression of racism. 

No one in this country, especially those running for office, should be attempting to make this problem go away via propaganda. It would be good if everyone makes the problem go away through recognition of the problem and efforts to disseminate the problem. Governor Haley and the South Carolina state legislature did exactly that.  

It doesn't end with the lowering of a flag, but, it was a strongly symbolic justice. It is my estimation that Governor Haley will be the next Vice Presidential nominee. She should be considering that as a option at this point. I may be disappointed and Rubio will be the next Vice President nominee, but, that would be a mistake. Governor Haley has the credentials to be running for President as well. 

But, that is off topic.  

It has been years now since the recognition of something wrong within our society. That something is racism the USA has ingrained in it's social mind set. There is a reason why the danger to African Americans is among the vapors of the USA and it is politics. Politics is easy to change, but, it never does in this case. For Republicans the politics is so very standard a completely incompetent president can be elected and speak in rhetoric. There has already been one elected in that manner, but, if an analysis wants to go back to Reagan or before it can be proven. 

The RHETORIC is president in most cases of Republicans. Rhetoric is dangerous business, but, profitable. The last truly competent Republican president was Eisenhower and he was a WISE president and warned this country of what could be dangerous consequences. But, even Eisenhower never saw racism as an issue.

I think the words by Senator Cruz is to recognize the hideous rhetoric of the past. I think Senator Cruz wants to change the politics, but, he may just be saying he sincerely feels violated by his party, it's dishonesty and it's dim future. If one wants to mock Ted Cruz then there really is no hope for the Republicans and tradition will kill the party. 

#blacklivesmatter actually came out of the need to organize around the issue of racism. It is a valid statement. It also came after the recognition had been at least a year old. Sean Bell (click here) was a young man everyone could be proud of and his death came at a particularly heinous time. He died at the hands of police the night before his wedding.

The death of Oscar Grant (click here) is still yet another heinous incident. But, there are many, many more and when honestly looking at what #blacklivesmatter means the recognition may be modern day, but, the KKK's origins is included in this racism.

It is interesting how Jeb Bush can attempt to dispel the idea that racism still lives in the USA, while never mentioning a word about the ongoing existence of the KKK. Jeb Bush might even believe at some level that it is still necessary to protect white brethren. The absence of denouncing the KKK is as much racism as denouncing #blacklivesmatter. Is that right? Am I missing something? Isn't the KKK as much a part of this? They were marching in South Carolina and their particular venom is still alive and thriving in this country.

#blacklivesmatter is a strong and necessary statement. If that were only the case, Sandy Bland (her mother calls her Sandy, I have no right to differ) might still be alive today. She should be and enjoying her new job and her new life. But, that won't happen now. 

#blacklivesmatter is built on the foundation of the long lasting peace movement of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. It is a peaceful movement and one that strives to carry a profound message. Americans need to recognize the ingrained political racism in the USA and move beyond it to justice. Americans are succeeding recently. They are succeeding because of mobile phones. A picture is worth a thousand #blacklivesmatter.

#blacklivesmatter is a vital movement and needs to be successful. The USA needs to close it's chapter on racism forever.