People have a right to privacy and also a right to develop our own minds and make thoughtful decisions. Every time major corporations and governments acquire one more way to track our activities and interests, compile statistics about what we like and what we do, and use that information to control our behaviour by limiting us, selling us and brainwashing us, our independence as autonomous beings is eroded. Privacy is not something we can give up on fighting for. Continue reading
BIGGER attacks on internet rights
Posted in All, Digital Life, Find the Truth, Privacy & You, Save the Net!
Tagged erosion, internet, privacy rights
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Just how bad is Chris Christie?
Why wouldn’t wealthy conservatives love Chris Christie? He zealously protects their interests: keep the poor working without perks and benefits for the benefit and comfort of the wealthy. Eradicate environmental friendly laws that put more value on people’s health than on businesses dumping toxic waste in communities where people live or incinerating it into their air supply; on developing projects that deplete, or destroy, natural resources which are everyone’s concern and responsibility, or pollute beyond imagination the land they occupy. Get the most money possible away from the public school system because an educated customer is not the most easily manipulated consumer or citizen. Raise transportation costs so high people need to work longer hours just to pay the cost of traveling to and from work. Fierce political competition? No problem, just beat them with a bat, call them names, or arrest them!
Posted in All, Find the Truth
Tagged cancel ARC tunnel project, Chris Christie, new jersey, school aid, sting operation
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Early Lessons In Justice and Economics – at Foodtown
When I was a pretty young kid growing up in Englewood, New Jersey, Foodtown supermarket was the store my mom used one day, to teach me about a couple of issues. Mom always had a shopping list going in the kitchen. One of the times her list had gotten pretty long, Mom stopped by the Foodtown about a mile from our home and asked me to run in and purchase a couple of items for her. “I didn’t know there was a grocery store so near our home, Mom. We always go somewhere else to shop. Why don’t you park and we can go shopping together?” I wanted to know.
Posted in All, Eat the World, Find the Truth, Wei Family
Tagged economic justice, predatory stores, Social Justice
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Christie Plans New Ways to Block Vulnerable NJ Students From Quality Education
Political conservatives, lead by arrogant politicians who clearly want to deprive the poor and vulnerable of any chance of escaping roles as menial laborers or fodder for a privatized prison system eager to house an expanding prison population: societal roles that coincidentally, provide creature comforts, and even riches, to too many – have a new plan for making quality education even less attainable for New Jersey’s most vulnerable students. They’ve appropriately named this tool of destruction the “Urban Hope Act”, as it hopes to make possible the future exploitation of young urban poor for many, many years to come. Sad to say that although Christie is spearheading this initiative, which makes sense given his politics, seriously misguided South Jersey Democrats have apparently gotten on board the bandwagon to help him destroy these kids’ futures, and that’s Just Not Right.
Posted in All, Education, Gov't & Trade
Tagged sabotage, school construction, stall, urban poor
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Low-income Students Still Without Insurance
The Obama health care changes ensure that adult students continue to be insured on their parents’ health insurance policies until age 26. This is great for students with parents who have private health insurance through their jobs or can afford to buy a private policy if they don’t. But, what about low-income students covered by Medicaid or a state family care program? In New Jersey, students lose their health insurance entirely at exactly age 21 when they are dropped from the New Jersey Family Care program. There seem to be no satisfactory alternatives out there to provide them with affordable, quality health care after that. I wonder if health care limbo plays out for students in other states too.
Posted in All, Education, Kids & Earth
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What Is “Jim Crow”?
In 1829, Jim Crow was both the name of a song and the name of a satirized character written and portrayed on stage by Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice, who used blackface makeup to darken his skin in order to parody a Black man in this role. Later, Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965 (Wikipedia). They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities. Ferris State University’s Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia explains, Continue reading
Posted in All, Culture, Find the Truth
Tagged blackface, Jim Crow, racism, segregation
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AAA Free Tipsy Tow Service NOT A Nationwide Program
News about AAA offering free towing service nationwide to get inebriated drivers home safely on New Year’s Eve is circulating virally on Facebook but according to Snopes, less than a dozen states offer this program.
Posted in All, Free or almost, Help . ., The Best Stuff
Tagged free tow, New Year's Eve
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Free University Education Programs
MITx: Online Teaching Model Beta Launching in 2012
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) takes its online teaching program to the next level with the new MITx initiative, which will be introduced this spring as a beta-testing model. Forbes magazine says, “MITx . . . will offer the online teaching of MIT courses free of charge to anyone in the world. The program will not allow students to earn an MIT degree. Instead, those who are able to exhibit a mastery of the subjects taught on the platform will receive an official certificate of completion.”
Posted in Education, Free or almost, The Best Stuff
Tagged free education, MIT, online learning
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Hate Crimes Target Bergen County Jews
I’m grateful as a Jew for the sentiment expressed by Hackensack Mayor Jorge Meneses at an interfaith ceremony held at Temple Beth-El to rededicate the synagogue following its desecration by graffiti vandals on December 21, the first day of Chanukah: “When these things happen,” said Mayor Meneses, “it’s not (only) that particular community that suffers and feels awful. We as a whole city feel it, too.” Similar vandalism occurred on December 10 in Maywood at Temple Beth Israel.
‘Barbershop Punk’ documentary explains Net Neutrality and issues
Michelle Maisto of Connected Planet writes,
“Barbershop Punk,” a David-and-Goliath style documentary about Net Neutrality and citizen’s rights to the Internet has been touring the film festival scene and on Friday night — a day after the Senate voted to strike down a move to block the FCC’s net neutrality rules . . . Small audience by small audience, the film — which includes interviews with Henry Rollins, OK Go’s Damian Kulash, Clinton White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry and FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, among others — is educating viewers . . .
Posted in Digital Life, Find the Truth, Save the Net!
Tagged broadband, fcc, internet, net neutrality, slowdown, throttling, Topolski
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