Text – Page 43 – Citizen Reporter

Grandparents and I Got Yelled At

Lots of non podcast related action getting in my way this week.? But its just as well I know lots of people want to bask in the light of positive feelings and relief after Obama’s swearing in. And as many of you know, I have a tendency to try and poo-poo the popular sentiments of the day. So again, its good that I’m busy and you can enjoy this very big happening.? As I was reminded.. or rather.. yelled at by an American several years my senior: You don’t realize how it used to be, you didn’t live it. Of course I argued back that one needn’t live every part of history to undertstand it… but still.. maybe I deserved to be yelled at. Some choose to do it in the comments of this site, some as I sit watching an innaugeration, either way is valid.

Now one thing I can recommend, that I initially didn’t think would be any good, is a recent edition of On Point that talks about the role of today’s grandparents in our households. They start off with the Obama mother-in-law in the white houseContinue reading “Grandparents and I Got Yelled At”

Take Your Eye Off NOLA

Among the issues and research I intend to do this season is New Orleans. In the shadow of the invasion of Gaza, my focus on GMO soy, and the mainstream press dedicating most of their vital resources to what they call an innaugeration celebration, it is easy to look away from a place that needs the critical public eye.

What issues concern me for NOLA in 2009? Quality of life. Specifically when it comes to affordable housing, public safety, and justice regardless of income or geographic location.? I wonder how the legal situation has or has not changed for those that I met going into the legal clinic back in 2007? Or what happens if they build this huge Veterans Hospital in an area where many people live in historical homes? Is there money for such a project or will it be downsized or remain incomplete? Of course the list goes on and on: corruption, public health, the environment… oh the environment.? All of these will get my attention and with the help of some of the finest and most critical bloggers (NOLA bloggers!) on the internets, we can help give the nation and people around a the world a reality check, saving many from the star-struck haze the CNN would like us to live in.

Swear in Obama, sing a song, read a poem, take a photo… then could we please get to work? People are dying out there, and together we could have stopped lots of it.

Cuban Medical Talk

My friend Chris Lydon posted an excellent Radio Open Source recently, as he is making his way around Cuba. As opposed to the highly revered personalities and voices he usually offers us, this time Chris runs into three American medical students who have been studying medicine in Cuba for the last 4 years.

The three ladies have great stories of how they came to study in Cuba and even better tales of how things work or don’t work in their day to day lives. They not only talk about what is unique and effective about Cuban style medicine, they also talk about how they will bring it home to the United States, to communities in need.
There’s much more in this interview then these few lines can properly capture. Do what you do best: listen for yourself.

We Will Not Be Silent Redux

Pleased to read today that Raed (blogger, journalist, world citizen) has won his lawsuit against JetBlue and the Transportation Security Authority in the US.? You’ll recall my shirt, the We Will Not be Silent black tshirt, which made headlines when Raed was taken off a plane in the US for wearing it (it has arabic script on it).? In case you don’t remember, he was taken off the plane because it was thought that his shirt was threatening and he was asked to change his shirt. He refused and was taken off the flight, at some point a security worker said wearing such a shirt was the equivalent of wearing a shirt in a bank that reads, “I am going to rob you”.

I’ve very proud and happy for Raed, yet at the same timeContinue reading “We Will Not Be Silent Redux”

More War Crimes

There are many events that take place in this world that we… myself included.. can describe as crimes. Crimes take many forms and have different degrees. Among these forms, one of the most horrendous in my eyes – becuase it is so tacidly approved of and glorified in our collective culture, is war.? Stop with the World War II references, there hasn’t been a just war since… since.. how can anyone call a war just? It is a contradiction in terms, especially in 2009, when as a world we know so much more about why things happen, why people suffer and who benefits in keeping in that way.? It is not a mystery of why one group hates another, there are very clear causes and those causes are rarely addressed because too many people profit from perpetuating hatred and conflict.Continue reading “More War Crimes”

This World, That World

Watch my talk “Not Soy Fast: The Silent March of the multinational GM Soy industry” Tuesday at 12h45pm CET, 6h45 EST. Streaming from one of these links.

Inside we are several thousand, over the past 3 days, shuffling about the Berliner Congress Center. Some for the first time, some for the third time, and many for the 25th time. The voices are loud and plentiful, people waving a laptop in one hand, planting them in front of neighbors to show them something they’re working on. A whole line of guys in one corner all have those Madonna headsets, though none of them has said a word in the last 30 minutes.? The flying object guys connect their flying objects to various sockets, an occasional test to see how the take off would look or the propellers are spinning. They don’t notice the Italian hacker walking around in his flowing robe with a bottle of grappa and a stack of plastic cups for anyone who wants to partake.? He comes over to the group of people I am withContinue reading “This World, That World”