USA corruptions galore, take your pick and then do something else....

Have you read about these political corruptions done in The American
People's" name?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[ from a Move On org mailing]

You might have heard this: BP is so well connected in Washington that even after being cited for 760 different safety and environmental violations, the company still got environmental waivers for the Deepwater Horizon rig that's now destroying the Gulf.¹

But BP's not alone in using its DC influence. Check out the list below of other companies' outrages—then pass it along. And be sure to sign our new Fight Washington Corruption Pledge to support 3 key measures that will protect our democracy from corporate lobbyists!

http://fightwashingtoncorruption.org/?id=21534-9179597-VTRYGGx

1. Exxon Mobil made billions in profits, and yet paid not one dime in federal income taxes in 2009.²

2. The 2005 energy bill had a little known provision, commonly called the Halliburton's Loophole, which exempted natural gas drilling from the Clean Water Act. The result? Water so contaminated that you can light it on fire.³

3. Massey Energy was cited more than 2400 times for safety violations in its mines, but chose not to fix potentially lethal problems because low penalties meant it was cheaper to simply keep paying the fines. This spring, 29 miners were killed in an underground explosion at a Massey mine in West Virginia.⁴

4. Michael Taylor was the FDA official who approved the use of Monsanto's Bovine Growth Hormone in dairy cows (even though it's banned in most countries and linked to cancer). After approving it, he left the FDA—to work for Monsanto. Until last year, when he moved back to the government—as President Obama's "Food Safety Czar." No joke.⁵

5. Internal Toyota documents outline how the company was successful in limiting regulators actions in the recalls last year—saving hundreds of millions while the death toll continued to climb.⁶

6. GE and its lobbyists—including 33 former government employees—have successfully lobbied Congress to override Defense Department requests to cancel a GE contract to work on a new engine for the Joint Strike Fighter jet. GE will need $2.9 billion to finish the project.⁷

7. Top executives at 9 top banks including Citibank, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley paid themselves over $20 billion dollars in bonuses just weeks after taxpayers bailed them out to the tune of 700 billion dollars.⁸

8. During the waning days of the Bush administration, officials responded to a long-term lobbying campain by pre-empting product liability lawsuits for dozens of whole industries. They bypassed Congress entirely and rewrote rules ranging from seatbelt manufacturing regulations to prescription drug safety.⁹

9. Sunscreen manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson and Schering-Plough, in the interest of profits, are opposing an FDA proposal requiring full reporting on sunscreen labels. The New York Times just confirmed that current SPF ratings don't even measure sun rays that cause cancer.¹⁰

10. BP—a company with a record of 760 drilling safety and environmental violations—was granted safety waivers in order to operate the deepwater drilling rig that ultimately created the worst environmental disaster in US history.¹

Mad yet? Sign the pledge here and we'll pass your name on to your member of Congress, and ask them to Fight Washington Corruption too.

http://www.fightwashingtoncorruption.org/?id=21534-9179597-VTRYGGx

++++++++++++++++++++++
repeated msg but important please: PLEASE !
if you like to pass this forward or you can COPY & PASTE - whatever you wish to send further And remember it’s better to send using "BCC" if to more than 1 person rather than the "TO" which spreads other's addresses into spam ..... Thanx.

Privacy is important !
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You can use the Move On link above

or write or call any govt representative [if they DO represent you, that is ] or just pass on info so everyone else also knows again what is actually GOING DOWN, not "on"... we need to remember how powerless we have been leveled down to ground and maybe need a POLITICAL revolution,
a revolt,
stand UP,
protest,
Inform everyone about what YOU know and think and learn
just do something instead of being depressed and silent
SILENT NO MORE !

so ,,,,make your own label pin, placard, business-like cards to distribute, or sign put on your front door and your car window [removable or corrected any time ]
any size and your OWN statement personal and political
WITHOUT FEAR OF RETALIATION, no shame nor embarrassment
just SAY IT ...whatever...we don’t have to agree or like each other
just respect our individual free speech

make this 4th celebration to EMPOWER YOURSELF
not be afraid, anxious, worried, scared, depressed
instead be ANGRY appropriately [didnt JC thoow down those monied tables somewhere and shout a bit at those he didnt agree with too ? be more like that or take a popular model and use it to do what YOU think can help and make any positive CHANGES.

and oh yes, forget "hope' and do "active movement" of any kind instead. Every little bit, every word, every intention manifested helps a tiny bit.

Remeber, you are never alone in what you want or think or do, tho you may not know or like those who may be allies anyhow.

[and PRIVACY COUNTS so keep my address out of your own exhortations. ]

Make your own statements and motions and feel worthy and valuable and purposeful by doing something, anything other than being passive and complacent.

And also.. be my com-patriot....care about what is done in your name and with your money...and let me know what you do and how we all can work and help EACH OTHER TOGETHER in any way, even if it is just reassurances, acceptance, and thanks.

Be radical, be bold, be couragous, be alive and dont let them get us down.

yeah !
that's the spirit and symbolism of this 4th of July.
for real changes
participate
make it your own way
you count
us together
yeah !

"No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly. When we know this we become free. FEAR is always an anticipation of what has NOT yet come. FEAR is our gross national product & export.

"wherever you are is home, and earth is a sacred place"

{c} maryjanie 2010

Voting is not getting the results we expect ed...hmmm

"Information about Gonorrhea Lectim=

[read aloud to pronounced it correctly ]

The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of this old disease. The disease is called "Gonorrhea Lectim." It's pronounced "Gonna re-elect 'em," and it is a terrible obamanation.

The disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior involving putting your cranium up your rectum. Many victims contracted it in 2008...but now most people, after having been infected for the past 1-2 years, are starting to realize how destructive this sickness is.

It's sad because Gonorrhea Lectim is easily cured with a new drug just coming on the market called Votemout. You take the first dose in 2010 and the second dose in 2012 and simply don't engage in such behavior again; otherwise, it could become permanent and eventually wipe out all life as we know it.

Several states are already on top of this, like Virginia and New Jersey , and apparently now Massachusetts , with many more seeing the writing on the wall.

Please pass this important message on to all those bright folk you really care about"

- - - - - --
and these thoughts follow after what happens when we do vote or hope:

Let us try not to catch the dis-ease called [illusionary] "hope" with the continual cliches made as "promises" of cures - that then do not occur in real life & time, as they are only self-serving words .

There is no research to prove that "hope" provides any real actual events -
though it is known to be a pacifier that falsely reassures all publics to "do nothing"- thus nothing is actually done to prevent another repeat of prior thievery, corruptions, lies, and more frauds. Including bailouts of the same people who create financial chaos for the many and profits for them few.

If USA TODAY reports that 70-80% of American public is against bailouts and some of these have written their congress and govt, and yet....the bailouts sail right on thru with the secret consent of those who previously worked for those same money-rich-power-full corporations, what kind of OLIGARCHY are we denying we are in ?

"Hope" as defined by politicians and thieves, is intended to pacify, to lull and to keep inert all dissent, revolt, or live actions. That means everyone with a differing opinion than they one that profits those few who OWN us all . This helps create the proper environment for more proliferation of more fraudulent acts that impoverish many and profit the powerful few. Again.

and Again.

and More.

Again.

what is going on here ? in this republic, democracy, voting with honest resolve .... what ?


Sorry, but the CDC and other health authorities have no information on how to discern all the political fake fronts with their dis-eases and 'agricultural policies' made by giant corporations- the fear mongering created by body diseases that again profit corporations, drug companies, animal feed and animal prison farms.

The media helpfully disseminate all of their flapping faxes of P.R. to keep us in FEAR and afraid, and waiting for someone to tell us when and what we can eat, drink, think, and buy. Of course.

The advertising from the same corporations that sell us stuff is used to sell us FEAR and anxiety and pills to quell those tremors. Most Media is owned and obligated to those who pay them to advertise and thus pay salaries. Reporting is repeating PR material faxed hourly everywhere.

And excuses are made about any future disasters and more thefts. There is inadequate funding for more research in the area of voter acquiescence, pubic conformity, American dulled minds, and how USA politics interacts with those believing in hopeful lies, once again.

What is wrong here, in the "freest country in the whole world" ? hmmmm ?

We 'the American People' vote and yet an 'electoral college' decides what we want ? Only 2 same-old same-ones choices allowed, more of the same only permitted.

Political campaigns now more easily paid for by inhuman-like Corporations, that own us in all other ways as well ? Corporations are just humans in powered moneyed forms ? But they pay taxes at different than human rates and often are 'overseas' based so not even here at all ?

Hope?

for change that comes in tiny increments if at all, but promises repeat the same words we voters think we want. We want "hope" instead of truth. We demand illusions instead of actions. We are powerless and depressed already and realize we vote for nothing more than the same we had when we thought we had "hope" before.

Sad.

Sorry.

Futile.

Vote.

and wonder....what went wrong when ?
hmmm....

[c] 2010 maryjanie

CA Assembley Passed Bill to eliminate free plastic bags

CA Assembley Passed Bill to eliminate free plastic bags

see latest article from LA Times online:

http://mobile.latimes.com/inf/infomo?view=page7&feed:a=latimes_1min&feed:c=localnews&feed:i=54078612


"Californians would no longer get plastic bags at supermarket check-out stands ...[snip]

....The hottest debate Wednesday was in the state Assembly, which voted 41 to 27 to pass a bill that would ban single-use plastic grocery bags — the first of its kind in the nation, according to lawmakers and environmentalists.

Shoppers would have to bring reusable bags to the store or pay at least 5 cents each for recycled paper bags at the checkout counter.[snip]

Schwarzenegger has indicated that he would sign the bill, AB 1998 by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica), if it passes the Senate as expected. [snip]

The measure was sponsored by Santa Monica group Heal the Bay.

Cities including San Francisco, Palo Alto, Malibu and others across the country have already instituted such bans. "It's easier to have a statewide ban than it is to have to figure out how to operate city to city," said Assembly Speaker John Pérez (D- Los Angeles).

The California Grocers Assn. has endorsed the ban [snip ] "


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commentary:

[of course ! saves stores' money and they gain from paper bag sales now too ]

anything 'free' is called a luxury we cannot afford to get, so now pay 5c for paper bag or bring your own ?? huh?

because some people think they are saving the environment from our REUSING plastic for leaky wet garbage in cans too ?

The rest of the world is still free to smoke or use plastic bags, but not in California ...huh ?
Free choice to choke ourselves or recycle our products is removed by a govt paid for by whom?

We may wonder who also PROFITS and gains from these 'bans'..even transfat oils...
good to label all foods, good to give information, teach people to read, help people to decide but NOT to decide FOR THEM...by govt decree...

and some of us who thought we were 'liberal' before cannot agree to have others liberally remove OUR FREEDOM OF CHOICE as in small consumer items... and it is hard to liberally agree to have our liberty removed by those who do NOT represent us, when we vote regularly.

what do you think of this ?
= = = = = = = = = = = = =

please WRITE your state senator and Assemblyperson too and just in 1 sentence give your opinion, whatever it is YOU chose it to be. Or write them all, because Assembly is not the Senate tho the Gov wants this to pass for his own political reasons, not for our good, for His mostly.

Some Points you may want to add:

Remind them that we need waterproof plastic bags to RECYCLE for other uses, or purchasing them is another basic-living cost...

that those who disregard & discard are probably the 10% for whom the 90% responsible recyclers are being asked to pay for now.

Without input from voters, the Assembly has decided for us from lobbyists, even do-gooders, but those in richer Santa Monica that are NOT representative of California as a whole

That we need proofs and surveys that show they asked the general public before taking this act and they do Not Represent US when they act on their own biases.

With our common basic living is not lowered while our salaries & savings have diminished, every penny counts, even if govt officials have well-paying jobs and it is 'nothing' to them.

Carrying bags everywhere is inconvenient & often insufficient when doing a full shopping trip. It is an additional burden to carry bags around all the time.

Those who manufacture those bags are winners, the consumers are losers now.

It's like another fee/ tax on us.

WRITE or CALL:

CA Senators from wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Senate#Senators scroll 2/3 way down and click on a familiar name

CA Assembley-people from wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Assembly scroll down to any one you want to contact on their page or get their email

CA governor to contact: [see "email" which includes 1 page, goes to page 2 for content ]
http://www.gov.ca.gov/

EVERY LITTLE ACT BRINGS ON ENERGY AND WILLINGNESS TO DO EVEN MORE AS NEEDED.

DO A LITTLE. LEARN A LOT. BE MORE POWERFUL.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - --

our email written to Gov Schwartznegger re plastic ban bill passed: at his website: 6/3/10 at http://govnews.ca.gov/govmail/webmail.php

"Because most of Californians RECYCLE and reuse these plastic bags for many uses, including leaky garbage, and other daily uses/needs, the charging or substitution for paper bags or cloth is not suitable and becomes costly.

Easy for govt officials on high salaries to dismiss 'pennies' as if they can be discarded, as are the penny-saving people in this state. To have 10% who misuse and are irresponsible is not a reason to ban or punish the 90% who are thrifty, cautious, re-using plastic items of all kinds, and who are being 'banned' out of their own free choices and rights.

To not have adequate surveys or input to the bill the Assembly just passed that YOU seem to like for your own political reasons [image and alliances] is not a way to to make a good choice to make for the 'rest of us'. We were not asked for our choices. We were informed that those claiming to represent us have "passed" a bill...for their own reasons [exaggerations & platitudes dont count as actual facts].

We are disappointed in your acting not for the common people but for the few who you like and may benefit from. We do not benefit from these interferences in our personal lifestyles, livelihood, and good clean decent habits.

Please stick to what you have been elected to do and stay out of making consumer choices that are not protective nor financially helpful to 'the American people'.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly. When we know this we become free. FEAR is always an anticipation of what has NOT yet come. FEAR is our gross national product & export."

"wherever you are is home, and earth is a sacred place"

(C) maryjanie 2010

Rent Control in LA still rises, not to worry renters can pay more still .....

Also see a comment on LA Rents article which contains this COMMENT: original article:

Los Angeles Right to Housing Collective Fights for Tenant Rights
by Los Angeles Community Action Network http://la.indymedia.org/news/2010/05/239243.php

The lies that "rents have gone down" does not include anyone who has been a renter in 1 location ...because no landowner has ever lowered the rent previously required.

Maybe a few places new renters are paying less than those who leased on before, where rents were raised higher and higher by greedy landowner BUSINESSmen, maybe. If over-priced and then lowered to what renters can afford to pay, then only have rents been lowered in any way...from dream rents to real rents...

but anyone who lives in a rental, has not paid less than any month before to retain them...especially if responsible, decent renter is there, maybe a smile or a 'hello , maybe not even that, but the CUMULATIVE RISE adding up each year makes the doubling of rents in the last 20 years... tho no one has had their actual earnings rise like that w/o being criminal...like landowners are legally being.

The ceiling with Rent Control is to keep even the greediest from sending everyone out of Los Angeles because they cant find work here and cant pay exorbitant rents.

Elders, seniors, disabled are paying 80% of their income or 100% on rent alone, no counting utilities. I am. Food banks are saviors and do not increase their fees yearly. The old lie that 'dont pay more than 30% of income on shelter/ home/ rent" has long ago been found to not be realistic.

The homeowners apartment owners associations with their attorneys and PR depts sell our politicians convenient lies like "they need to spend time monitoring the interests on the security deposits collected from renters' which is Work they have to recompensed for. Read the Rent Control reasons for why they keep increasing the same old same OLD falling apart apartments, with minimum repairs legally required done only.

And apt owners are IMPROVING THEIR OWN PROPERTIES when repairs are made, which increases or keeps their values for themselves, yet want to charge renters for these repairs in any and every way.

who are these same old greedy un-compassionate and uncaring BUSINESS OWNERS claiming they need to increase their profits every single year ? yep. apt owners....

and on Pat Morrison KPCC show, they framed themselves as "mom and pop businesses"...how many of those poor ole folk own buildings worth at least over $500,000 now ? huh?

such liars, greedy people with no 'customer service' skills and who hide behind voice mail only and post office box addresses to boot !

no requirement to be reachable directly in Rent Control laws either. What is fair in LA ? only in Pomona, the animals on display."

Please write / call / communicate your needs and concerns to LA RENT CONTROL office and to your Los Angeles City Councilperson any time of year, and express your outrage or worry or suggestion or comment directly. They need to hear more than from apt. bldg owners and their lawyers and hired guns.

{c} maryjanie 2010

Wikileaks needs every thinking person's SUPPORT please !

bookmark this one :

http://wikileaks.org/

and if anyone has an extra $10 or more to donate, this looks like a good place to put your moneytoo ..and they also say you can support them "technically" see bottom of the page for info.....

one sample story as I peruse their findings is this:

__________________________________________________________

24. Feb. 2010: Cryptome.org takedown: Microsoft Global Criminal Compliance Handbook, 24 Feb 2010

Cryptome.org is a venerable New York based anti-secrecy site that has been publishing since 1999. On Feb 24, 2010, the site was forcibly taken down following its publication Microsoft's "Global Criminal Compliance Handbook", a confidential 22 page booklet designed for police and intelligence services. The guide provides a "menu" of information Microsoft collects on the users of its online services. Microsoft lawyers threatened Cryptome and its "printer", internet hosting provider giant Network Solutions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA was designed to protect the legitimate rights of publishers, not to conceal scandalous internal documents that were never intended for sale. Although the action is a clear abuse of the DMCA, Network Solutions, a company with extensive connections to U.S. intelligence contractors, gagged the site in its entirety. Such actions are a serious problem in the United States, where although in theory the First Amendment protects the freedom of the press, in practice, censorship has been privatized via abuse of the judicial system and corporate patronage networks.

---

in case you want to share some info from me to others, since I like to Exp[ose and Share and get others helpfully involved in CHANGING our world to whatever is better than it is now...more transparency, less secret hidings, more choices possible, etc.

= = = = = == = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

from Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileaks

Wikileaks went public in January 2007, when it first appeared on the web.The site states that it was "founded by Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and start-up company technologists, from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa".The creators of Wikileaks were unidentified as of January 2007^[update], although it has been represented in public since January 2007 by non-anonymous speakers such as Julian Assange, who had described himself as a member of Wikileaks' advisory board and was later referred to as the "founder of Wikileaks". As of June 2009^[update], the site had over 1,200 registered volunteers and listed its advisory board as consisting of Assange, Phillip Adams, Wang Dan, CJ Hinke, Ben Laurie, Tashi Namgyal Khamsitsang, Xiao Qiang, Chico Whitaker, and Wang Youcai. However, when contacted by Mother Jones magazine in 2010 several of the supposed advisory board members said they were listed without their consent or knowledge.

Wikileaks states that its "primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations."

In January 2007, the website stated that it had over 1.2 million leaked documents that it was preparing to publish. The group has subsequently released a number of other significant documents which have become front-page news items, ranging from documentation of equipment expenditures and holdings in the Afghanistan war to corruption in Kenya.

Their stated goal is to ensure that whistle-blowers and journalists are not jailed for emailing sensitive or classified documents, as happened to Chinese journalist Shi Tao, who was sentenced to 10 years in 2005 after publicising an email from Chinese officials about the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The project has drawn comparisons to Daniel Ellsberg's leaking of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. In the United States, the leaking of some documents may be legally protected. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution guarantees anonymity, at least in the area of political discourse. Author and journalist Whitley Strieber has spoken about the benefits of the Wikileaks project, noting that "Leaking a government document can mean jail, but jail sentences for this can be fairly short. However, there are many places where it means long incarceration or even death, such as China and parts of Africa and the Middle East."

The site has won a number of significant awards, including the 2008 Economist magazine New Media Award, and in June 2009, Wikileaks and Julian Assange won Amnesty International UK's Media Award 2009 (in the category "New Media") for the 2008 publication of "Kenya: The Cry of Blood - Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances",a report by the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights about police killings in Kenya. ^[snip]

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(c) 2010 maryjanie

do you know anything about the latest 'tea party' ?

copied from http://www.teaparty.org/

[our] " Non-Negotiable Core Beliefs

Illegal Aliens Are Here illegally.

Pro-Domestic Employment Is Indispensable.

Stronger Military Is Essential.

Special Interests Eliminated.

Gun Ownership Is Sacred.

Government Must Be Downsized.

National Budget Must Be Balanced.

Deficit Spending Will End.

Bail-out And Stimulus Plans Are Illegal.

Reduce Personal Income Taxes A Must.

Reduce Business Income Taxes Is Mandatory.

Political Offices Available To Average Citizens.

Intrusive Government Stopped.

English As Core Language Is Required.

Traditional Family Values Are Encouraged.

Common Sense Constitutional Conservative Self-Governance is our mode of operation."

----------------------------- then listen to KPFK archives soon, at :

Eben Rey, 'Radio Alchymy' and Hour 1: Dale Robertson, tea party founder. www.teaparty.org Hour 2: Open phone conversation

and listen to this....a different topic but where else do you get such info ??????

and this re: aliens are here already

Eben Rey, 'Radio Alchymy' and

Guest Dr. Fred Bell, author of The Inside Track: The Complete History of Science, How It Became Deadly on the Watch of the One World Order and How to Sidestep Their Activities Contact: 1 (800) 729-2603 http://www.pyradyne.com/

--------------------------

now can you read and listen to what you DONT ALREADY AGREE ?

are you as "liberal" ~ open minded ~ curious ~ aware ~alert as you claim to be or want to be ? or as you prefer to imagine yourself to be ? huh ?

are you just a put-'em-downer only or are you an inquisitor [enquirer] or investigator ?

are you really "in the know" or just limit yourself stuck in the parts you WANT to know to stay hopeful and believe....as in the prior "hope for change" that did not occur after all ?

why not find out MORE and as it always changes anyhow, stay Present, Alert, Know-ledge-able.
and be a truly current and informed person

for a change

any change

especially NOW

why not ?

(C) 2010 maryjanie

Do you know this man ?

this is someone who is hiding behind your CASH and bank account and credit card company. Do you recognize him ?

Please add him to the "WANTED FOR PUBLIC HARM GLOBALLY EVERYWHERE" list.

He is your neighbor or in your adjacent neighborhood driving fancy cars, hiding behind tinted windows, behind the 'normal guy' facade, in the fanciest restaurants and bars, frequenting 'call girls and upscale whorehouses' anonymously and his kids go to schools that you envy and can't afford.

Called BANKSTERS, short for "gangsters" or "mafia" facsimiles, these most men, are ambitious, ruthless, greedy and getting it all by bribing and colluding with your favorite politicians.

Do you know him ? sometimes he looks like a girl, but is really manly in ambitions and game-playing-selfishly.

Turn him in to the.....'regulators' ?
or they one and the same in-group ?

WATCH OUT FOR THIS GUY.
He already has your numbers, all of them...social security #, your password, ATM, bank and credit card [shared information amongst business associates as listed in the small print you sign in to get an account or card ]

In fact, you may never see him alive or in person.

But for sure you have already...and will continue to feel his influence constantly ... to see his workings on your money...your earnings...your savings...your government...your mortgage or home-owner...your store owner, etc. etc.


(C) 2010 maryjanie

Sneaky cameras at red lights need monitoring and identifying...let's start right HERE !

dear fellow drivers and fee-payers all:


I saw a letter to editor and went onliine to find the article, then even wrote a comment #45 at end too....interesting stuff...


I have also recently paid $60 street parking 5 min over time listed on my street, and $50 for parking over the white line in Rose parking lot in Venice, tho handicapped cant fit and open a door in those tight spaces, and almost been run over 2x by a taxi running rapidly THRU a red light w/o looking at Wilshire & Westwood, but the cameras are a threatening robot ready to pounce w/o a human face or mind.


Attached is the LA Weekly article, FYI. If you cant open it, here is the link:
http://www.laweekly.com/2009-12-31/news/los-angeles-red-light-ticket-ripoff/

"The city’s 32 red-light cameras are placed at traffic choke points like Sepulveda and National, Sepulveda and Victory, Western and Washington, Manchester and Airport, Alvarado and Temple, Sunset and Cahuenga and Pico and Bundy. (For a map of all 32 camera-rigged corners, go to lapdonline.org/home/pdf_view/34638"

good to know


(c) 2010 maryjanie

The "millennials" are surveyed by Pew and makes many people wonder...

This information has been selected from the sites below to disseminate the information openly.
Please refer to the full report for more details.
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Source:


http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1501/millennials-new-survey-generational-personality-upbeat-open-new-ideas-technology-bound [site containis graphs but not all of these can be copied ]


"the American teens and twenty-somethings who are making the passage into adulthood at the start of a new millennium -- have begun to forge theirs: confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change.[snip]...



They are more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults. They're less religious, less likely to have served in the military, and are on track to become the most educated generation in American history.
[snip]...



Their entry into careers and first jobs has been badly set back by the Great Recession, but they are more upbeat than their elders about their own economic futures as well as about the overall state of the nation


See chapter 4 in the full report) [[ it's 149 pp on PDF file]] ...[snip]...



Only about six-in-ten were raised by both parents -- a smaller share than was the case with older generations. In weighing their own life priorities, Millennials (like older adults) place parenthood and marriage far above career and financial success. But they aren't rushing to the altar.



Just one-in-five Millennials (21%) are married now, half the share of their parents' generation at the same stage of life. About a third (34%) are parents, according to the Pew Research survey.



We estimate that, in 2006, more than a third of 18 to 29 year old women who gave birth were unmarried. This is a far higher share than was the case in earlier generations.




(See chapters 2 and 3 in the full report) .[snip]...



[snip].....Among 18 to 24 year olds a record share -- 39.6% -- was enrolled in college as of 2008 ...



And now, hard times have kept a significant share of adult Millennials and their parents under the same roof. About one-in-eight older Millennials (ages 22 and older) say they've "boomeranged" back to a parent's home because of the recession. (See chapters 3 and 5 in the
full report)...... [snip]...



...relatively few Millennials -- just 2% of males -- are military veterans. At a comparable stage of their life cycle, 6% of Gen Xer men, 13% of Baby Boomer men and 24% of Silent men were veterans. (See chapter 2 in the full report)......[snip]...



...About half of Millennials say the president has failed to change the way Washington works, which had been the central promise of his candidacy. Of those who say this, three-in-ten blame Obama himself, while more than half blame his political opponents and special interests......[snip]..



They are still more likely than any other age group to identify as Democrats. Yet by early 2010, their support for Obama and the Democrats had receded, as evidenced both by survey data and by their low level of participation in recent off-year and special elections. (See chapter 8 in the
full report)......[snip]...



AND MORE HERE:


Source: December 2009 Current Population Survey (CPS)

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1437/millennials-profile



"... we focus on Millennials who are at least 18 years old.... roughly 50 million Millennials who currently span the ages of 18 to 29 ...[y.o.]... [ this report ] profiles the roughly 50 million Millennials ......[snip]...



...Most of the findings in this report are based on a new survey of a national cross-section of 2,020 adults (including an oversample of Millennials), conducted by landline and cellular telephone from Jan. 14 to 27, 2010; this survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.0 percentage points for the full sample...[SNIP] .... we also know this is not an exact science....


Most Millennials (61%) in our January 2010 survey say their generation has a unique and distinctive identity. That doesn't make them unusual, however. Roughly two-thirds of Silents, nearly six-in-ten Boomers and about half of Xers feel the same way about their generation...[snip]...24% say it's because of their use of technology......[snip]...



Boomers' feelings of distinctiveness coalesce mainly around work ethic, which 17% cite as their most prominent identity badge. For Silents, it's the shared experience of the Depression and World War II, which 14% cite as the biggest reason their generation stands apart.



..Millennials are the only one that doesn't cite "work ethic" as one of their principal claims to distinctiveness...Asked who has the better work ethic, about three-fourths of respondents said that older people do....[snip]



Likewise, Millennials are more receptive to immigrants than are their elders.. .[snip] The same pattern holds on a range of attitudes about nontraditional family arrangements, from mothers of young children working outside the home, to adults living together without being married, to more people of different races marrying each other....[snip]



Some 41% of Millennials say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the country, compared with just 26% of those ages 30 and older......[snip]


see [Download Complete Report [PDF ]



They are the most ethnically and racially diverse cohort of youth in the nation's history.

Among those ages 13 to 29:


18.5% are Hispanic;


14.2% are black;


4.3% are Asian;


3.2% are mixed race or other; and


59.8%, a record low, are white



They are the least religiously observant youths since survey research began charting religious behavior.



They are more inclined toward trust in institutions than were either of their two predecessor generations -- Gen Xers (who are now ages 30 to 45) and Baby Boomers (now ages 46 to 64) when they were coming of age



[[why this trust...trust is what ? trust how ? huh ? bailouts is not in their vocabulary nor is bankrupcy yet ? huh ?]]


also:



One is the life cycle effect. The biological impact of aging and the changing roles that people play as they grow older typically produce changes in attitudes and scial behaviors over time. In short, young people may be different from older people today, but they may well become more like them tomorrow, once they themselves age.



The second is the cohort effect. Generation differences can be the byproduct of the unique historical circumstances that members of an age cohort experience during adolescence and young adulthood, when awareness of the wider world deepens and personal identities and values systems are being strongly shaped. The unique nature of the times imprints itself on each successive age cohort, producing differences that persist even as a cohort ages and moves through the life cycle.


In addition to life cycle and cohort effects, there are also period effects. These are major events (wars, social movements, scientific or technological breakthroughs) that are likely to have a simultaneous impact on all age groups, though, again, their impact is often greatest among the young because their values and habits are less fixed than those of other age groups.



The most common approach to trying to understand how each of these processes plays out ...at different times to track changes in the attitudes and behavior of cohorts as they age. [snip]



...that there is an upward trend in acceptance of interracial dating in most cohorts as time passes. For instance, just 36% of the "Silent" generation (born before 1946) approved in the first interviews in 1987, but by 2009, 67% of members of this cohort approved .. [snip]


....the continuing cultural forces also persuaded some individuals to change their views on this topic at some point during adulthood.It is also possible that the growing racial and ethnic diversity of the U.S. population over this period contributes to the trend, since blacks and Hispanics are more supportive of interracial dating than are whites ...


[[ what creates changes of attitudes and behaviors is not part of survey, only surmises of other cultural, political, religious and practices in arenas such as immigration, transportation, technological invovations make a difference.... change does not 'just occur' in any vacuum. ]]



so decide for yourself what this survey tells us about our decendants and the future they will 'hold' for us and the earth itself....how caring,

how active,

how independent,

how non-militaristic,

if not-passive,

how critical thinking

and how benevolent and generous these 'new' folks are and will be.





The future is not dependent upon them, neither mostly nor alone as a group, but they in this USA will have a say and act as a model, as shown in movies, in social technology, in advertising the USA ways of life. What have we taught them, or what has been taken out of parental family hands and handed to the governments, states, privatized-contractors for the states and local institutions and
out of actual ancestestral influence.



ill millenialls be more followers than leaders ? more self-absorbed in their electronic toys than in their human humane contact ? more reliant on things-ready-made-and-purchased ? more led by instant media and thus with less time and inclination to think for themselves?


and then what ?


will the changes that must occur be beneficial ?


for them ?


for the sentient beings on this planet ?


for the future of this biosphere ?

what then ?


what then ?


what now ?






"No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly. When we know this we become free.
FEAR is always an anticipation of what has NOT yet come.
FEAR is our gross national product & export.

"wherever you are is home, and earth is a sacred place"

(c) maryjanie 2010

Child-Free by Choice, a novel idea or is it ?

Larry Mantle's pgrm on KPPC 1/5/2010 was about not having kids discussing a book entitled :

"Two is Enough: A Couple's Guide to Living Childless by Choice"
Childless by Choice Project, Laura Scott, author.

My responses are :

” I am old enough to know better....made a clear and definite choice in early 1960's to have children with husband after deep deliberation, just after pill came out to be 'safe'...and they grew up to decide on their very own to NOT have children, each one chose this separately. Delighted to not have-to-be a grandmother, to take care of children,

and

yes, there are normal happy people who Do Not Like Children as a generality... and there is nothing WRONG or BAD about that attitude...contrary to ordinary average socialized opinions.. voiced so easily that everyone 'should, must, naturally' Love Children. children are ok to observe, talk to briefly when not too close or too long, and it is not SELFISHNESS as in 'not ok' ...but a life choice, freely & intelligently made based on life path and life style too perhaps.


children are not all cute, adorable, sweet, nice, pleasant, fun, et al.

they are also mean, cruel, spiteful, moody, self-centered, with different personalities that may or not match compatibly with any adult. some people like to have someone depend on them, too feel needed, to want to "be helpful" and to re create themselves thru someone else. others dont.

we are very pleased with our socially conscious lives and have nothing missing at all... and with the way the world is 'turning'....we are grateful we made these choices so long ago...all 3 of us, my kids and me too... this ends our family line on both my husbands and my side. great !

someone else wrote:” We are not childless, we are child-free!”

I agree !

(c) maryjanie 2010

HEALTH COST INCREASES...shhhhh...dont talk about that hardly, not truthfully ..shhhhhh

Larry Mantle on KPCC on 1/5/10 discussed opinions and reactions to health care as it is being congressionally 
voted and promoted.  My comments could not get in on time but...here they are anyhow !



“ Why is the actual Increase -  yearly - in health costs, stated as supposedly "necessary  and unavoidable:..
un huh...but that is not continually discussed, investigated, explored, exposed to do direct actions to keep
COSTS DOWN instead of just agreeing to keep spending more and more again,   in just another way to
the benefit of those who provide medical services [mostly writing prescriptions by # of services provided]
 ... and then  passing andtransferring all costs that still keep on RISING continually every single year to
the average American.

note that Kaiser- which is a non-profit  - has yet again for 2010  the premium has increased by 10%
...and they claimno profits ....yet have that increase every single year ? cumulatively it becomes double
 or more in a short span of time. And this is not discussed. Why is this so ?

Why does the AMA, and all the medical doctors & health staff who  not get reductions in their high fees
and salaries-their benefits mostly that  provides only another increase in costs...and this is with or w/o
the usual general public  yearly CPI  inflation ?

Why is the discussion about whether it is govt [= all of us who earn anything at all paying it ] or private plans
[some pay more, others dont, and it is 'privatized' as most businesses are too ]...why is the discussion stuck in
one place ...? rather than  explore and admit why the costs are so extremely elevated...           and why most
people dont get much healthier from Medical treatment..  We stay the same or improve, from ::::

1- improved and cheaper hygiene, and appliances and chemicals that keep our waters, foods, safe   [sometimes] 

2 -better work conditions & safety concerns

3-  technology and machines taking over body movements work

4- and no longer do many chores that could injure or cause body harm, poorer health
  
5- we have  job losses, especially the manual work [mfg] ones, vs office 'sitting'  in the so-called "service" sector
      
6-  dangerous manual labor has been diminishing in USA and has been outsourced 'over there'
   
7- and medical treatment  outsourcing when our medical prices are prohibitive and other places like
India, Indonesia, etc do it as well, cheaper  but with similar results ?

8- and other factors that can be pulled up and looked at, reviewed, improved, negotiated, shifted too....   huh ?

why is all the talk continually about one aspect only - as if that was the Only and most Important part of why and what we need to VOTE on, to change How we do which
medicine ...and how / why we pay for it and why we pay so much for ....oh, whatever?


That is the real problem as I look at it. Most news and commentators and then the
public too just repeat the 1 2-sided issue, as if that is all the problem entailed...


while some of us then just dismiss the repetitious arguments about a closed minded
Dem-Rep 2-party ltd stuck country...that does not allow any alternate voices or questions either. but yet, I still chose to live in this USA and then use it's medical system as rarely
as is possible.



please DISCUSS THE ACTUAL $$$ COSTS AND WHY THEY ARE AS HIGH AS THEY ARE, even if the reparations and improvements that could reduce the cost, to individuals,
groups, even companies are then ultimately ignored with "we can't do thaaaaaat !"


it is not the right questions being repeated, thus limiting any good answers.


(c) MARYJANIE 2010

FEAR ! no no no ! let's not !

Pat Morrison on KPCC radio on Jan 5, 2010 did an interview with this author =

Barry Glassner, author "The Culture of Fear".

She wrote on KPCC website:

"our day to day lives are defined by fear. Three out of four Americans say that they are more fearful now than they were 20 years ago. How dangerous is it? discuss if our fear is justified, or have we been manipulated into being paralyzed, by fear itself…"

My response to the validity discussed about how Fear is excessively promoted and elicited currently is:

“So glad you are both speaking and exposing this falacy and contagious stress inducing PR scheme. thanks Pat & Barry. I agree, fear is not helpful to make safer our daily lives in this USA we actually live within. Violence exists. Worse elsewhere, Publicized more here. Made visible daily, repetitiously here. why is this ? FEAR IS OUR MAJOR EXPORT AND IMPORT and so profitable too...why do advertisers buy media space next to these stories and emphases ? It is not what we fear but how we are pushed and elicited to be aroused to watch / listen to "news" to be more fearful. Those aroused are better consumers and will buy stuff to reassure themselves too.

Fear is a profitable PR marketing tactic. 

It is not just bleeding that is what wakes the tired populous up, but a lot of sexual arousal and titillation will bring
attention to the over-worked,  depressed,  angry,  bored,  withdrawn, and or dependent on external stimulation
American.         we seem to love it and expose it even more than other cultures, tho not all others. We dismiss
'superstitions' while engaging in the same behavior and we  think we are superior by using different 'solutions' for
the fears that we too absorb and project further.         


Why is every described as "worST, moST, wildEST" all described in extremes as if unique and truly to be noted ?
       

Why is fear more useful to an over-saturated media-absorbing public than it's so-called-positive images that
may be just as fake and fantasized ?            


Why is there so much agreement to promote FEAR by media people, by professionals who want to make a name
fame for themselves, by government public relations people to accumulate more POWER in those institutional bodies ?

Why is FEAR the preferred mode of being in the USA?

In this day and age, when no nuclear anything has 'gone off'... when no famine has occurred in USA....when disasters
are actually rare and minor but blown up to be given Attention and thus advertising will pay for that media space
when people are fearing and watching / listening too ...

And the reporter who do NOT explore further, investigate, or cant afford to do more than say the same outlandish
attention- grabbing terrible whatever, so it reverberates until by repetition it is believed and discussed and agreed
to be 'real' and accurate ?

They only work for pay, so why spend too much time doing anything that is not paid for by their salaries/ commissions
?      I agree with Barry, that is why my email has this signature to be seen by anyone I write to and by me too every
time I use email:

"No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly. When we know this we become free. FEAR is always an anticipation
of what has NOT yet come. FEAR is our gross national product & export."   "

{c} Maryjanie 2008

UCLA raises fees everywhere on everyone

this was posted also in http://la.indymedia.org/news/2010/01/233728.php

UCLA increases parking fees some more

UCLA has instituted a $3/ parking fee on Disabled Placard holders everywhere on campus after years of following Calif State free parking for legitimate blue zoned areas, starts Jan 1, 2010, but.....

Sad news of the UC system taking from the less- employable and indigent handicapped-disabled folks now.

After years of following the California code for allowing those who are often not able to be fully employed and earning like 'ordinary folks', like those with legitimate disabilities, even those not visible medical conditions... i.e. not stumbling in wheel chair or drooping on a cane... but still limited in their abilities to move and be fully mobile, Now those few spots where there was disabled parking was at no cost, is no more.

But big signs went up everywhere to only announcing that as of Jan 1,2010 a $3 visitor fee for Disabled Parking will apply to all who enter these sacred grounds.

Why complain ? Because the University of California, i.e. UCLA, system is trying to increase it's income on the backs of all those who enter the university premises - even who can ill afford these increases. Yes. but yet, the $3 is less than the ordinary $10 entry daily fees for sure !

The lack of adequate or clear & presentable communications to it's loyal public has led to many disabled non-students, and non-staff folks,to react with ill-will.

Lack of acceptance of these increases in the cost of visiting OUR university, sp that even alumni, the elderly, or those actually often unable to earn equally or fairly in the work world, and also those who do not use their dead grandma's handicap plaques are jolted into surprise thus dismay at this sudden decree.

The sidewalk signs are all that tell the public of what comes without any adequate advance notices nor any explanations. Just pay up or else..... No questions allowed.

This is poor public relations - creating ill will and resentments - not just because of the cash now required but more so because there is no consideration for the visiting public in giving clear and courteous notice of what is happening,. "Why ?" is not a question obviously, and this immediate change is made without even a mild pretense of an apology for the sudden rise in rates. Not a glimmer of caring about public reactions, and no place for public comments either.

To communicate with the Transportation / Parking Dept of UCLA that handles all parking is very convoluted, difficult and requires much effort, patience, perseverance and wasted personal time. There is no one to ask questions of what is going on. There is no answer if one tries. And even tho their employees are salary-paid-still also to answer questions and handle responses to their sudden actions, apparently they are not paid well enough to have a Q&A response system. Just pay up...or else ! Because we said so..... hmmmmmmm

The set-up street signs announcing the $3 Handicap Parking went up in December 2009 and for the 3 weeks the Univ. was fully shut down for the holidays is assumed to be time-enough for 'everyone' to be informed, conform and silently agree. But no one was around to see these signs before Jan 4, when UCLA opened up again. And the student parking workers know hardly anything when asked.

Oh well, let them take the guff and be frontline casualties.

The Parking dept can sit in offices further away and be safe from public reactions and opinions and questions.

However, there are no flyers are handed out at parking kiosks, so the poor student workers there have no information other than "you have to pay now" and they will be getting the ire and fury of those visitors daily that suddenly are confronted with an unexplained cost increase Is this the way to "do business".
By our state-paid employees at UCLA ?

This is a sign of the times, but not just economic ones. It is the times of the "We Dont Care because We Have Power to Do as We wish", acted out by those who are paid by the California STATE funds, which are taxpayer supplied, of course. Instead of helping the UC system show consideration and caring to all concerned in times when good-will is hard to come by anyway - e.g. with the recent announcement of fee increases for students whose families earn over $70,000, now the Transportation Dept did not think ahead or do proper PR.

It was not planned well enough to make ADVANCE information available, with more than the easy demand and set up of a New Rule. "Pay UP or get an expensive parking ticket !" is the abrupt message. We dont care about anyone but getting our money. From any every one who comes near here....our campuses.

The Jan 4, 2010 issue of the New Yorker Magazine has an excellent article about the recent UC systems' problems and reactions to the student fee increases announced last fall. Check it out online or at library copy.


Reading of this well-written story brought up other questions of why the UC students - who are trying to re-enact the motions of rebellions of the 1960's Anti War protests, tho they do not apply now - when these youth are reacting not to war...not to death of Americans and Vietnamese and others... who are not to being drafted, maimed and maybe killed in far off wars as young men/ women ...who are not concerned as a social movement that cares about what the government does 'not in our name'... no, not these protests....these are different times and different students than what they model their chants and parades and graffiti on....


The students currently at the UC systems have feebly enacted scenes - trying to look powerful -but for their own MONETARY SELF-INTERESTS. That is not a social good, not a government public policy issue, not about caring about the world and others, but these apparently are only concerned about their own money, costs and their entitlements. About 1/3 of grants & aid are paid for by those same student fees, so the poorer students and those incoming ones will lose out because fees should not be shifted up. IWho wants to pay more even if some portion of that cost goes to help less-able-others also get into UC also ? No free rides for anyone but the ones that want to get for their own only. Who wants to pay more anywhere anyhow ?


Strange world that has emerged -when what is important is one's self only and not more social-public-citizens' welfare and their good too. But, that's where 2009 has come to from the times when more socially-conscious students and faculty of the Vietnam anti-war days were doing here.



Nothing similar to ANTI WAR protests was anywhere visible at UCLA campus for years now, no one showed up when a protest was announced .... about Iraq or Afghanistan... nor will it be attended if about Yemen, Russia, Bolivia or anywhere else way-over-there - where it is not the students' own money and lifestyle that is directly involved. The era of selfish individualism is on full display. oh well... "me. me, me and mine is all that is important now."



oh well..... So if anyone cares besides those whose own costs go up calling, writing, contacting the sources of cost increases would be a good idea. Whether it is the student tuition costs, the Disabled Persons Parking, whether it is the cost of daily living as inflation soon will emerge in other areas without decent jobs to pay for all these increases, take action in some way. Or tell others you will, then do it !

(c) Maryjanie 2010