Local vs Corporate

Is it better to buy your commodity goods at giant corporate chains like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, knowing you're buying better quality products that are more "wholesome," to use that term loosely; or is it better, if you can, to buy your commodity goods locally, even if it means not buying organic or supporting the small-scale producers that seem to end up on the shelves of "health food" stores?

I thought I had reached clarity on this, but I'm having a hard time following-through with it. I decided a few weeks ago that it's better to buy locally and support local economy, even if it means giving your economic contributions to a mass-producer like Goya than a more holistic company like some (and I can't stress that enough) of the producers who stock Whole Foods shelves who don't operate under the umbrella of an MNC. Would I rather buy black beans in bulk? You bet. Would I rather buy them in a can from Amy's than from Goya? Of course. But I think that local economy trumps that concern. If I am buying "ethically," again a term I am using loosely for a lot of reasons, I am still supporting one of the fastest growing, union-busting, independent-grocer-crushing giants in the country. Yes I'm talking about Whole Foods. Ultimately I sleep easier at night knowing that money went to profit a local owner who might own another grocery store on the other side of town called "Fresh Foods 2" or something hoaky like that. At least I know the profits being made are going back into my community more efficiently than Whole Foods can do it.

But yeah, there is still a lot to be said for supporting producers and manufacturers who operate more ethically. The argument could be made that local business owners model themselves off of bigger corporate entities, and that if demand for Amy's vegan black bean burgers trumped Boca, local places would stock Amy's. But then how big will Amy's become, and for how long can they uphold their ethics while producing on that big of a scale? It all comes full circle in that sense.

I'd like to hear what you all think. If you have a few minutes, which you obviously do if you've read to this point, comment here with your thoughts on the issue. It's becoming a very important issue in what some people, including myself, see as the next necessary step in our economic evolution if we are to become a sustainable species: consuming more intelligently, and ultimately consuming much less.

Aug 19

Howard Zinn has officially transformed me. I can no longer consider myself a 'liberal Democrat' under the pretense of it indicating my goals & humanitarian/environmentalist philosophies. How could I have been so blind for so long to the emptiness of any major party in a two-party system, Republican or Democrat? How could I have been so oblivious to the fundamental similarities they share? How did I buy in, so confidently, to the images they project? Without ever considering the fact that so little has ever changed under the influence of either party? We've never stopped waging wars or conducting 'military interventions.' We never solved unemployment. We never seriously addressed racism & class hatred. Indeed, we have continued to bleed 99% of our people for the advantage of the elite 1%. How did I never see this before?

The answer is simple: No one told me. Not in schools, not in college, not on 'political debate' shows, not on the news, not in the paper, not in magazines, not in movies—nowhere in popular culture that is accessible to the majority of common people. I stumbled on the realization, the awakening, by chance in a semipopular (by mainstream standards) alternative history book. There is something deeply, fundamentally wrong with that. These issues are so important, so far-reaching, so unifying that everyone needs to know about them. It goes beyond street preaching and leafletting, though these certainly help. Indeed, it goes to the core of cultural assimilation and the devices of upbringing and social indoctrination, to use that term in a hopefully neutral, utilitarian way. It goes essentially to the structures and systems of education.

Over the past year or so I have been toying with the idea of pursuing a career in education. I realized many months ago that I want nothing to do with the business world or the degree I'm pursuing in that field. I've been trying to find a sense of direction, and education is something I've been considering. I think, through this political awakening and soul-searching, I may have found my affirmation. I'm not entirely sure yet, but I do know I want to commit my profession to enhancing my community in a noncorporate way, to working in and contributing to the growing movement for social, environmental, political change. Teaching others about these principles in a setting meant to shape their identities, their senses of citizenry and personal responsibilities could certainly accomplish those goals. So we'll see. It's nice to be awakened.

---

if nothing else but sun
shall enter a room
by window, by doorway, by mirror
let it not spoil on some wasted,
wasteful symbol of modern society:
coffee, hot in the mug, of broken
foreign spine & wanting mouth;
chocolate, sweet and normal, of
forced hands upon slaved Ivory shores.
let it touch what touches us more —
shadowy corners, glass edges, the
written word between unread covers.
let it illuminate as it should
so that we may see things,
the world, its objects, as they are,
free of shadow, forever beginning,
so that we forever remember we
are never too far from the start.

---

Four more days to go. I've heard so many different things about Venice that I don't know what to expect. Dirty, busy, small, wonderful, dangerous, boring, romantic....... I'll find out soon.

Knowing that this is our last stop before home is very comforting. I wonder whether or not it will seem strange to be back somewhere where I can understand what's being said around me. I think the first order of business will be eating as much non-Italian food as I possibly can.

Aug 18

BOLOGNA is a city on vacation. Maybe 2 out of 10 places I pass is actually open. In a way, it's comforting. Very comforting. For the moment, and those of the past several days, a place matches my mood. The architecture (sp?) is beautiful in a calm sort of way; designs are simple but old and heavy and everything is grandiose, though that may not be the term I want. Buildings, walkways, arcs, piazzas are huge, as though built on a larger scale. Tina's readings explain that Bologna is/was a hub for communism in the country. This is evidenced around the university district, where posters, graffiti, flyers denounce capitalism and fascism. How simply refreshing. I've been pounding away at Zinn's People's History of the US, and it is so accurate it's depressing. Taking a break from dominant, capitalism-pervasive society is in many ways relaxing. It's nice that everyone vacations at the same time, that work days are not 9/10/11+ hours long. If only I could bring these trends back with me.

Right now I sit in the Parco della Montagnola, trying to resolve myself to enjoy these last five days here. Trying to find little things to focus on, to remind myself that this is an experience I want to remember fondly, one I'm not soon likely to repeat. Trying to find purpose & meaning in having dropped my life on its face for three weeks. Well, this park, with its fountain and statues and theatres and stairways, is making it a little easier to accomplish.

Aug 9!

I have been reading a lot so far this trip. I finished both editions of the Kicking at Clouds 'zine. The first one regarding the issue of Occupied Palestine really was a good read. It brought out a lot of hostility toward Israel that I usually keep private, because idiotic people seem to take 'Fuck Israel' as 'Fuck Jews.' I think I will make more of an effort not to withhold myself in the future, after reading those memoirs. What a completely fucked up situation.

Last night I passed a candle light demonstration in the heart of Rome denouncing the Olympics next year in China, on the grounds of their invasion and occupation of Tibet. What is it about mighty nations exerting themselves onto neighbor nations incapable of defending themselves? What is it about humanity that is so exploitative of people?

Unrelated ... We picked up a rental car today in Siena. A Fiat manual transmission to get us around Tuscany. We drove to Greve in Chianti (that's the official name of the town...) and I have never been so terrified in a car as I was today. The Italians are horrible road designers and even crazier drivers. But more importantly—fuck cars. Steel coffins with combustible gas tanks.

Tuscany is beautiful. We are staying on a castle estate/vineyard, full of green, green and more green. Rolling hills, acres of grapevine, sunflower fields. I cannot wait to go for a walk tomorrow. The wine is amazing.

Greve is a wonderful town. It has a coop grocery! It has a few other coop things & tons of shops. Very clean. Reminds me of Boulder, CO. I'm glad to be here, even if it took ten years off my life on the drive over.

Time for more Richard Dawkins before falling asleep in a queen size bed ALL TO MYSELF.

Not in my name, either; on Israel & Palestine

I've been reading a zine I picked up at Quimby's on Saturday, called Kicking at Clouds. It is a compilation of journal entries and email correspondence from a young woman that reflect the four months she spent working with the International Medical Relief Committee in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. It is told from a very personal, very subjective point of view, one that aligns itself against the occupation.

I do not have many opportunities to talk to people about my feelings on this issue—I have lost the friendship of at least one person based on them—because of the poor understanding the majority of people have of what is happening there. I'm going to talk about it here, and I welcome any discussion from anybody who happens to read it, because that is how we help understand one another and break down communicative barriers.

What the Israeli government is doing in Israel and Palestine, with regards to the occupation, is positively evil. Ever since the UN land sanctions following WWII created the nation of Israel out of land taken from neighboring countries, Israel has used the thousands of years of oppression put upon its people, as well as the horror of the Holocaust, to justify strong military, political and nationalist campaigns. The nation most defiant to Israel's expansion, and the one who has by far received the heaviest of her blows, is Palestine.

When most people in the western world, particularly the US, watch TV specials or read articles on the situation there, they read about the suicide bomb campaigns undertaken by Palestinian terrorists, and how they target innocent Israeli civilians. These attacks are true, and they are brutal. However, what people here don't read about is the extent of brutality, racism and lawlessness that characterizes the Israeli army's occupation of Palestine.

Israeli tanks and jeeps frequent Palestinian towns and cities, blockading streets, shooting at children and teenagers (or really anybody who hurls a rock). Soldiers enter at will and without discretion the homes and apartments of entire families. They lock the family in a room at gunpoint while they ransack their home, looking for weapons, destroying their belongings. They shoot live rounds, they explode grenades. If the street is not safe enough to use from building to building, they blow out entire walls to avoid it. This happens to ordinary families. What happens to suspected terrorists is worse. Rather than blow out a wall and smash the sinks and toilets, they rally the family outside while they demolish the entire home with tankfire. Keep in mind that these victims are not tried and convicted; they are merely suspected, and they are left with nothing.

Israeli citizens are all obligated to military service, no matter who they are. Many do not wish to serve, but since they must, they are quick to adopt the most simple reasons for their actions. The suicide bombings, the hatred, the oppression, the Holocaust. It does not behoove many of them to consider what they are doing to the Palestinians, who are not allowed a police force, let alone a military to respond to the injustice inflicted by the Israeli army, or what their actions continue to do to them: breed more hatred, ignite more violent passions, disenchant more ordinary people to the extent that they view ALL Israelis as the enemy (and are willing to attack accordingly).

The term Zionist has positive connotations among most of western civilization. It is symbolic of a movement for peaceful, recognized sanctuary for the millions of oppressed Jewish people around the world. This is a misconstrued understanding, at least compared to the actions taken by Israel to realize it. Most people know very little, if anything at all, of the wall currently under construction to permanently separate Israel from Palestine. It is 8m high, it has security cameras and guard towers every 10ft or so, and it offers very few checkpoints through which people can pass from either side. Israel has intentionally placed this wall outside its internationally recognized boundary (the Green Line), and it has destroyed Palestinian towns and villages to make room for it. This should not come as a shock, though. Ever since the original UN land sanctions, Israel has continued to steal (or annex, if you prefer) land from its neighbors, most notably from Palestine. The Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank shrink annually.

When I describe my stance as anti-Israeli, people tend to automatically associate it as anti-Semitic, too. This is such an unfortunate failure to distinguish between the actions of a government and the religion of the people it represents. Even a simple look at Israeli policy shows how brutal and terroristic it is. Israel continues to justify its campaigns by mentioning the suicide bombings and civilian death tolls it suffers. Yet, it fails to even consider the facts that suicide bombings have been reduced in recent years and that many, many more Palestinian civilians have died unjustly at the hands of Israeli soldiers than have Israeli civilians at those of Palestinian militants.

Israel cries martyrdom and persecution for her religious beliefs whenever challenged. She has a right to do so. But for how long will Sharon and company make these cries to horribly and ironically justify their Zionist policy, which condones acts we would consider war crimes? How long will the rest of the world continue to hold Israel unaccountable for committing them?

What's fair is fair.

It's about time that progressive politicians stop Fox News in its tracks in the most direct way possible: non-participation. If only the public at large would follow suit in recognizing and denouncing the unfair, unbalanced, disingenuous approach Murdoch and co. take toward advancing the conservative right-wing platform.

By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will not participate in a Democratic debate co-hosted by Fox News Channel this fall, campaign aides indicated Monday.

The decision by the two Democratic presidential candidates follows an announcement last week by John Edwards, another White House contender, that he would forgo the Fox event.

The Sept. 23 debate, set for Detroit, is co-sponsored by the cable news network and by the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute.

Without Obama, Clinton and Edwards, however, Fox and the CBC institute would be missing three of the marquee contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama and Clinton aides said they intended to participate in six debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. The DNC's list did not include the Fox News-CBC Institute debate, a concession to liberal and black activists who say Fox has slighted blacks and is biased in favor of conservatives.

A spokesman for Obama, who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, made it clear that Obama intended to participate in a debate co-sponsored by the CBC Institute and CNN.

"CNN seemed like a more appropriate host," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

The Clinton campaign announced its intentions Monday after Obama had let it be known he would not be attending the Fox debate.

"Were going to participate in the DNC-sanctioned debates only," Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said. He added that Clinton already had commitments to participate in an upcoming debate in South Carolina and one hosted by Tavis Smiley, the PBS late-night talk show host.

Democrats have been under pressure from liberal activists to avoid Fox-hosted debates. Last month, the Nevada Democratic Party canceled a debate that Fox was to co-sponsor in August.

The institute, a nonprofit group whose directors include members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Fox News announced an agreement nearly two weeks ago to air Republican and Democratic presidential debates. But activists, including civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, immediately criticized the alliance and many called on Democrats to pull out.

But Candice Tolliver, a spokeswoman for the CBC Institute, said Monday: "The debates are still scheduled as announced,"

Calls by the Associated Press to Fox were not immediately returned.

I applaud Sens. Obama and Clinton and former Sen. Edwards, even if their actions took quite a bit of lobbying on behalf of advocacy watchdogs.

We march one step at a time. We saw the Democratic sweep in 2006. We'll take the White House in '08.

Mean green.

Lately I've been overcome with joy at my choice of lifestyle. I feel like a much more responsible citizen of this world than at least 75% of everyone else.

Tips I've come to pick up on in helping facilitate a cleaner, sustainable future:

• Buy a bike. This is non-negotiable. Bicycles are the most efficient form of transportation in terms of input-to-output ratio, and they are largely petroleum-free. But with the oncoming advent of plant-based lubricants and grease alternatives, they can soon be 100%. They will help you keep in shape. They don't rely on fossil fuels. I could go on and on about the benefits of bicycling, but that's another entry.


• Ride it! Staying fit is an important aspect of personal wellness, which helps promote smarter choices for society, the environment, and your intra/interpersonal relationships. Besides, driving a car ten blocks to wherever is totally pointless.


• If you have access to good public transportation, use it. Mass transit is much more resource-efficient than individual transit.


• If you haven't caught on to it by now, your driving habits should be minimal at best. If you can go car-free, then by all means, do it! If not, please drive intelligently. It is wasteful to accelerate faster than necessary. When I drive, I keep my RPMs under 3,000, which is less than half my car's potential. Minimize your drive time and maximize your gas mileage.


• Recycle! It's absolutely mesmerizing the amount of neighborhoods that offer recycling programs, given how infrequently their inhabitants take it seriously. Are you throwing away cardboard when it could be recycled? Paper? Plastic? Glass? If you can recycle these things, there's no reason for you not to. There are only excuses. Laziness has put us this far back, and it is one universal human trait that will be the end of us all.


• Check your thermostat. There's no need for it to be set higher than 70° during cold months or lower than 75 during hot months. If you can push yourself further, do it! Speaking of thermostats, if you can fare all right without air-conditioning, then don't invest in it. It is incredibly expensive and very detrimental to our power supplies (grid-wide power outages, anyone?).


• If nothing else, try your best to live lean. I'm not talking about diet (though, going back to personal wellness, you should be eating healthy, too). I'm talking about wastefulness. If you're not using a light, turn it off. Same goes for your computer, your TV, your radio, your fans, etc. The less you use, the less you waste. Limit your consumption only to what you need.


• Support local food markets and health food stores. The "health conscious" sector of the consumer market is growing, but it is still in its early stage. By buying organic products, not only are you making a conscious choice to contribute to a more progressive society, but you are helping spread the message to corporate giants that the old days of eating up every resource to squeeze ten bucks out of two pennies are coming to an end. There are many arguments to be made about multi-billion dollar corporations entering the health food market, but even if you are going to support giants like Silk or Boca or MorningStar (all of which are corporate subsidiaries) over lesser known, independent producers, you are helping the conscious consumer market grow, which is a good thing.


• Seek out and support politicians who are active in the environmental movement. Check their voting records. Check their agendas. The government is overrun with politicians, agencies, and other forums of power and influence who simply don't care about environmental issues for various reasons. Replacing these people with people who do is an important step toward empowering ourselves collectively to make real changes to wasteful policies and lax regulations.

That's a lot to list, I know. However, it's just the tip of the iceberg. One of the best things you can do is research energy alternatives and other methods people are using to live green, and then introduce them as much as possible into your life and the lives of those around you.

The earth is impermanent. It will one day be unsuitable for human life. Unfortunately, since the dawn of the industrial era of human civilization, that day has been accelerated exponentially. It is the responsibility and the duty of every single person living in this world—especially those of us in its most wasteful nations—to do his/her part to help reverse that trend.

Breed-specific legislation is a true evil.

Perpetrated by those who would rather eliminate a species because of its exceptions, and not its rule.

I will spare you the sappy captioned photos of babies with pit bulls, of dog lovers with their pit bull guardians and companions, of regular people with their pit bull pets. Because I don't think it requires that much pathos to trigger a sense of true and instinctive compassion.

And make no mistake about how I feel on this: if any of you PETA supporting hypocrites want to argue for the real value of breed-specific legislation, do it out of earshot of me, because I will rip you a new asshole on any argument you could hope to make. You need some perspective and an extremely unfortunate sense of irony and humility.

Friends, please be active and persuasive about this. If you hear someone bring up the topic, explain to him/her how euthanizing a pit bull for being a pit bull is like killing a Muslim for being a Muslim. It's the same thing. What flawed, shameful logic it is to marginalize every single pit bull who has never attacked anyone or anything to justify killing off the whole breed because of a social stigma attached to it by way of malicious human irresponsibility.

Punish the breeders.

Not the breed.

Happy Thanksgiving.

California teacher takes realistic approach to Thanksgiving.

I think this is a respectable way to teach children about Thanksgiving by giving them a more accurate depiction of the relationship between Native Americans and European settlers. In my opinion, it is ok to celebrate peace and giving thanks for what we have. I'm glad that teachers are actively not confusing that with a fairy tale history.

Blow up your car!

!!

Fair wages.

The faculty strike is over, and my questionable third class has resumed! This means I get to graduate in December still, which makes me happy. I only hope that the faculty gets fair negotiation with the administration; I'm not happy with our administration at all.

We have the fourth lowest paid faculty in the state, and the fourth highest paid administration. Call me crazy, but that doesn't seem to balance out too well.

In other news, my birthday is in two weeks exactly. New bicycle! I need a riding partner. Inquire within.

Adoption is as bad as marriage!

Gays can't adopt children for much longer.

Seriously, I don't know where these people get the balls to deny people the right to raise a child on the basis of them not knowing what a real family is. It is absolutely ludicrous, especially when we have trailer trash parents all over the country who can adopt as many children as they want, abuse them, and live off the government's welfare checks, which they get more of for each child, like my friend Jessie's adoptive mother. And it is downright offensive that these far-right religious fanatics are touting the sanctity of marriage and the value of the family. Hello, sirs and madames, but your constituents in the Bible Belt states are divorcing one another at a much higher rate than all us pesky liberals. And you, the same people who pushed legislation against interracial marriages, are really going to base your agenda on the concepts of family and morality? Nigga, please.

If you want to regain your foothold and public standing with the general population, it would behoove you to do it ethically and admit your misgivings. But you're politicians, and conservative Christian politicians, at that. It must be tough, rewarding work telling all of us heathens how to live our lives with moral and personal integrity, with fine, God-fearing folks like Pat Robertson on your front lines. I sympathize.

Nah, I don't. Go get bent on your crucifixes.

Is Dick Cheney gonna have to pop a bitch?!

WASHINGTON - Vice President
Dick Cheney apparently broke the No. 1 rule of hunting: be sure of what you're shooting at.

Umm, no shit.

Personally, I can't get over how all these news articles refer to Whittington having been "peppered." Peppered? I pepper my baked potatoes. I don't shoot them point blank with a shotgun...

Oh Dick, you silly bastard.

Finally we are no one.

I seem to be lacking motivation to do much of anything lately. I skipped three out of four morning classes this week, simply because I didn't have the energy to get out of bed. I just slept. This is me in winter. Hooray?

I wish I had something interesting to write about. Alas, I am wanting. Last weekend I buried my grandfather, and that was not a good time. This week I have no energy or motivation to do anything. Next week will probably be no different.

Samuel Alito is going to be nominated to the Supreme Court, and I have one less reason to love this country. I've sent a letter to the editor to about 12 different newspapers, local, regional, and national. I've called and written Congress. I fucking hate that I still feel helpless.

In other news, I love the Global Bazaar.

Crash.

I just finished watching Crash for the first time, and it touched me deeply. It is a testament to how—though we say we are tolerant and understanding of each other and our differences—racism, discrimination is still very much there. How can it be a coincidence that there are eight times as many black people in prison as white people? How can it be circumstantial that black people are targeted for traffic pullovers? These are facts, not biases.

How can anyone say that something as progressive as affirmative action is unfair? And on what basis? That denying qualified white people is reverse discrimination? Fuck you. At least you're qualified; it's easy to complain about giving other people what they don't have when you already have it. Did you have to resist innercity gangs? Did you have to work two jobs when you were 15 to help put food on your family's table? Is your ethnic group most unlikely to ever be in positions of authority? Fuck you. You are not a victim. How can a population raise itself up when it is rhetorically, systematically, fundamentally being held down?

I don't understand why there is so much inequality. Well, that's a lie. I understand perfectly well why there is inequality. What I don't understand is how people can support it, flaunt it, defend it; why people only ever see the threat of diversity and not the value.