Audio – Page 89 – Citizen Reporter

Comfront the Diabetes Epidemic

I know I have a decent amout of readers who are diabetic. I also can think of one friend and blogger who is. Not to mention in my family, where I know there have been some diabetics including my dad who may be reading this right now on his shiney new computer. Yet somehow, in both conversations with friends and the mass media, it’s rare to hear about the diabetes epidemic that is sweeping the US, especially New York City.

Just to make sure Im not abusing that word, not that I care very much about not abusing words, lets go to the definition:

Ms. Webster says:

Epidemic – 1 : affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time
2 a : excessively prevalent b : CONTAGIOUS 4
3 : of, relating to, or constituting an epidemic

According to the American Diabetes Society, it is most certainly an epidemic affecting 20.8 million Americans, 7% of the population! According to the Guardian, the poorest areas of places like New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn) have a higher percentage of people affected. This is a result of a combination of factors which may include genes, but the one that sticks out in my eyes is DIET. When you consider how terrible the mainstream American diet is (Im talking about the fast food 5 days a week), you can see where the increased risk arises. That and lack of exercise, as usual.

Not to compare conditions or make some competition between health problems, but I think more research and awareness needs to exist in terms of this problem. We hear lots about cancer. We hear insane amounts about bird flu. But when you take something that effects all of us directly, like diabetes, and call into question the diet promoted by big business…. it gets awfully quiet.

bicyclemark94: Coal, Money, and Politicians – Making Profits of Death and Corruption

This program looks into not only what happened at the Sago coal mine in West Virginia, it examines and scrutinizes the record of International Coal and other mining companies, the state government and regulatory agencies, and the senate and white house relationship with these companies. The point is to understand why such accidents happen, and to demand better from all parties involved, not just sentimental fluff and reports without hard questions.

AudioCommunique #94(mp3)
40min+, 80kbps, 24Mb+

Links of use:

The video with the coal miners son
Hoovers Business info
Open Secrets
Washington Post article
NWistheOne
Pedals and Politics

Beautiful Music on this one:

Billy Bragg and Joe Strummer – Junco Partner
Mother Judge – Dream of a Coalminer’s Daughter
Ralph Stanley and Dwight Yokum – Coal Miner’s Prayer
Billy Joel – Allentown
Woody Guthrie – The Dying Coal Miner
Uncle Tupelo – Coalminers

Surprises While in Belgium

I guess I’m a small time internet celebrity. Maybe not. But in my daily life, it sure feels like it. things happen, people get in touch, do things for me, connect with me…. its a crazy feeling. Kind of like a walking on air, I can do anything type of feeling. Which is amazing cause I don’t even know how Im going to afford health insurance this year, nevermind fighting the forces of evil in the world.

But nevermind that. I’m in Brussels doing a post-christmas visit, which means I’ve acquired some lovely and practical gifts, and I get to run around discussing important issues in French most of the day. – Mais di donc! – So instead of writing any further, I shall present to you a series of links that have somehow instersected with my offline and online life:

Ditta called from somewhere in the amazon. Apparently they’ve chopped down most of the trees and they have internet cafes equipped with skype.

Gil of BeligumFM sent word that he was coming to Amsterdam for the day, both through his podcast and email, turns out we switched locations at the wrong time.

Emmanuel from 2600, who barely knows I exist but I love and help support his radio show, was actually in amsterdam for a night on his way back from the Kaos Communication Conference. unfortunately I heard that podcast just as his plane was arriving back at JFK.

BlondeButBright arrived in Amsterdam tonight. After many a month back in Mini-Soda. To say that I’ve missed alot her would be an understatement.

this is all very cosmic…

bicyclemark93: Chilean Elections and Social inSecurity

FIXED – I’m joined from Chilé by Brad from Willing Warrior.com, one of the most dynamic new videobloggers out there. We discuss the upcoming elections and their significance for the country, the region, and hey – the world.
I also break down the good and the bad of the private social security system there with help from lots of academics, journalists, and economists.

AudioCommunique #93(mp3)
41min+, 80kbps, 24Mb+

In the discussion I refer to:

Elections, Round 2
Bachelet vs. Piñera, the clash of two social movements
The income gap and free trade
The effects of the private pension system on the Chilean economy
The model for other nations?
The unsustainable debt of the system

Music and Sound:

Victor Jara – Te Recuerdo Amanda
Salvador Allende – Ultimo Discurso
Isabel Allende – from an audio archive CD I found in the US
Tiro de Gracia – El Juego Verdadero
Omara Portuondo – A Salvador Allende en Su Combate por la Vita
Antony and the Johnsons – Spiralling

Wikipedia in my crosshairs

Now they’ve gone too far. Wikipedia deleted the entry about me as well as my blog and podcast. I’m extremely disappointed. This time it’s personal. I recently wrote to wikipedia and asked to speak with a rep for one of my future programs; to discuss the work and future of the resource. But now this happens, I’m very angry.

If you go to wikipedia and look up my full name, you find nothing. Unless you search hard, then you find a editing comment that includes the words “vanity post”. Vanity post? Fuck you wikipedia. YES, I started the post about myself, my work, and my life. Why the hell should that be a violation of any policy? The idea behind my actions was to document the things I’ve done and am doing. Same goes for my online publishing work. I wanted to have it all in writing, archived in what I’ve long thought was a great resource. And they delete me? Fuck you wikipedia. I do not understand where your project is going, and increasingly, I find the management tactics are terrible, intrusive, and unreasonable. If you were really open source, this would have never happened.

Wikipedia beware, you and temp agencies are now my two arch-enemies

UPDATE (an hour later) As Andrew D referred to in the comments, they actually frown upon editors writing pages about themselves. Read the policy. I read it and I understand the text but I still think its crap and Im still disappointed that my podcast was also removed. Feel free to click here and go to WIkipedia and describe my blog and podcast to those jerks.

NEXT DAY UPDATE: Some of ye kind readers created entries for both me and podjournalism! thank you. Oddly enough, they have both been tagged by wikipedia idiots for potential deletion! The war continues.

Nostalgic for Old Europe

I always feel like I missed the bus when it comes to living in the era that best fits me. Old professors used to talk about taking over various school buildings in New Jersey and I used to think – man I wish I’d lived in that time. I read about the spanish civil war and hemmingway, and even though Im a pacifist, I thought to myself – man, I wished I lived during that time. I read about Big Bill Haywood when he helped found the IWW and teach workers from all over the world about their collective power and rights, and I thought to myself — Man I wish I lived in that time.

The same feelings haunts me in Europa as I look at the dismantling of those grand ol social systems. For my entire brief adult life they’ve been privatizing, cutting, selling off, converting, or reversing. I hate most of the words, especially when they refer to this great health system, or rail system, or social security. Of course, I never lived during those days, so I live off the second hand stories, and whether they’re accurate or not, I get starry-eyed and daydream of what it would be like to live in old Europe when social services were operating at full speed with the full support if their countries.

And so tonight I sit staring at kiesbeter.nl, a site that helps me to choose which health insurance plan is most in line with my needs and FINANCIAL situation. That’s right, national health in the netherlands is not so national anymore. A dear friend and wise frisbee throwing woman assured me it was better this way, because there are more and different options for people. I trust her judgement, but I keep wondering about the old days and the old system. Was it not world class and great that everyone was covered collectively? Am I missing something? Does anyone else have a bad feeling about all this?

I’m sure somebody will comment about how it was too expensive and inefficient. I suppose those who share that opinion are in the majority now, and I’m just some daydreamer, romanticizing a system I never got to properly take part in. And when Im sick and under-insured and lacking social security, I’ll be sure to cough on everyone, turn to a life of old-person crime, and tell stories no one will believe about how social services used to be nationally run.