Longterm Social Crisis

This week several mainstream headlines quoted “experts” who pointed to signs of economic recovery on the horizon.  I think they were referring to Europe, but if you search the news, you’ll find other experts pointing out signs of the same for Japan and the United States. Of course after experts say such things they add the caveat: but there is still a lot of uncertainty.

As I ride through the streets of Amsterdam and my neighborhood, the young yuppie mecca known as the Oud West, I see “for sale” signs everywhere.  Most of those signs have been hanging there for most of this year.  As I drive the Red August around the canals of Amsterdam, I see more “for sale” signs on house boats then I’ve ever seen before as well.  Some disappear in a few weeks, some linger and have become part of the scenery.

Riding home from frisbee practice the other night I was chatting with a longtime friend who works as a freelance ICT person for the past few years.  Talking about his business and how things have been, he pointed out that in the past few years he was always swamped with work, in many cases having to turn down jobs because he was too busy.  In sharp contrast he described this year as one with hardly any work, for the first time in his freelance career he has had to approach businesses and potential customers in an attempt to convince them they could use his services.

Are so many people unemployed in the Netherlands? I suppose not as many as I’ve noticed back in Portugal or the United States.  But what about all these freelancers and those of us who are employed part-time for the past few years, how do we factor in to the statistics in these troubled times. Beyond that, do any of us realize how much worse it can get?

Economic experts and government representatives can point to industrial output numbers and so-called investor confidence surveys to justify holding a “the economy is going to get better” press conference.  But a walk down the street and a talk with your neighbors tells another story.  Seems like everyone, from the big corporations who needed bail outs, to the banks who traded in fake money, to we the freelancers/consumers, thinks that we can have economic recovery but just doing things how we always did, not need to learn any lessons from the past. Looming social crisis? 25 million unemployed by next year? We don’t want to think about it.

ctrp 314 What is Behind the Texas Secession Movement?

None of them were alive the last time Texas was located outside the borders of the US, but they’re demanding to go back to that status. They’re angry at the Obama administration, frustrated with the United States, and lately – they’ve managed to get a bit of national attention.  They are the Texans calling for secession from the United States, and Forrest Wilder of the Texas Observer has been looking into who they are, the issues they’re concerned with, and just how far they might get.

His blog Forrest for the Trees on the Texas Observer site

We mention the Texas National Movement

Forrest’s video of a recent demonstration

*Note: file codes for my program will from now on start with ctrp.

Terrorizing Gay Iraqi’s

My good friend John of Americablog has been in Paris for the last few weeks and sent me a message today. The message contained excerpts from this article in the Guardian which tells about religious extremists in Iraq who troll gay websites and chat rooms seeking to identify gay Iraqi’s, track them down, and then torture or murder them.  They do this in the name of religion, citing the usual claims related to god and religious rules as justification for butchering men and women in ways that words cannot describe.

In his message John asked me if, among my many friends in the hacker community across the world, I might know some who could help expose these murderers who use computer skills to find their prey.  Although I do know many skilled individuals, I didn’t have a good answer for him. Is it possible that in a world where such a barberic group of killers exist, there might also be a group dedicated to human rights and the belief that none of us should ever be hunted for who we are, who could combat their activities?  Part of me thinks it is too TV, too Hollywood, that in the real world of post-Saddam Iraq, it is not possible to stop such horror.

Yet outside of the idea of stopping a group seeking to identify gay Iraqi’s, couldn’t those of us concerned with this issue help in other ways? The most basic – making sure there is information, readily available and being passed around any place where gay Iraqi’s could find it, on how to keep their identities safe.  On how to be vigilant for someone who is pretending to be something they are not. Although it might seem like common sense to some of us, it still seems to me one step we can take towards stopping fundamentalist monsters from committing atrocities.

ctrp313 The Era of Charter Schools

Charter schools in NYC are getting alot of attention over the past few years for the quality of education they are providing and the methods they use to do so. But what do we know about charter schools and how they function?

My guest today is Catherine Barufaldi of the Explore Charter School in Brooklyn, NY. For just over 2 years now she has worked at a successful charter school and has a lot to say about what sets her school apart from traditional public school.  In this program she talks about her experience while also explaining what exactly is a charter school and what do they mean for the future of education in the US.

Arming the Planet

A new congressional report reveals that in 2008 the United States further increased its already leading position as the world’s biggest arms dealer.  From fighter jets to machine guns and far beyond, no nation in the world comes close to the number of weapons produced by American companies and sold in every corner of the globe.

$37.8 billion is total amount of income made on weapons deals by US manufacturers last year.  A number that represents 2/3 of all deals made in the entire world. Let me repeat that, two-thirds off all weapons deals on this planet involve American manufacturers.

This statistic from the same year that so many people lost their jobs and their homes, with record numbers of Americans without health insurance, and a new president being elected on a platform to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (though mostly it was about Iraq).

Most media reports and analysis will focus on this huge share of the worlds weapons made by US companies, but what about those other companies?  Nations such as Italy, Russia, and France as all major players in the remaining 1/3 of the world’s arms exporters.  Both Italy and France being interesting examples of nations from within the EU where supposedly we are more anti-war and sensitive when it comes to where our money/weapons go.

Set against the backdrop of an economic crisis, a climate crisis, and violent conflicts raging on multiple continents, the news that weapons manufacturers had their best year ever, is something beyond shameful.

ctrp312 Fiji Water: Beyond the Bottle

The bottle might look unique and the image might be of a ecological alternative style bottled water company, but is that the whole story? Investigative journalist Anna Lenzer examined Fiji Water in her recent piece for Mother Jones, looking into the details of who owns the company, their environmental record, as well as their relationship with the nation of Fiji and its military government. She joins me to explain her experience and what she learned.

Useful links:

The Article: Spin the Bottle

Response from Fiji’s PR person and other followup info

Details about the holding company (Roll International) that owns Fiji Water

Fiji suspended from Commonwealth

Anna also mention’s the BBC’s programming about Bottled Water