Social Justice News, 8-25-06

Bush Pesticide Rules Are Illegal: Ole Dubya relaxed rules on pesticides so that producers didn’t have to ‘bother with’ the effects of their toxic chemicals on endangered species. Now a judge has thrown out those rules. One minor victory for the planet –and it’s endangered wildlife.
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/006/judge-bush-administration-pesticide-rules-for-endangered-species-are-illegal.html

Six Steps to Beating Global Warming: This report outlines six ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions here in the U.S. However, in my opinion just cutting emissions, while absolutely necessary, won’t be enough. We need to find a way to capture some of the carbon dioxide all ready in the atmosphere. How can that be done? Some scientists are working on technofixes, but in the meantime there is a very simple, very effective, and completely natural way of sequestering carbon dioxide that every person can do. What is it? Plant a tree. That’s right. Every tree we plant takes carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The same for shrubs, flowers, etc. So if you want to help fight global warming, cut your emissions –and plant a tree!
http://www.pennenvironment.org/PEair.asp?id2=26153&id3=PE&id4=PEHP

I Fear God More Than Homeland Security: A Mexican woman is being sheltered in a Methodist Church in Chicago to avoid deportation –with the full compliance, and assistance of the churches pastor.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/22/1421217

Women Can’t Teach Men: A Sunday school teacher has been fired because of her sex. Her church has adopted a literal interpretation of the Bible, and says that means a woman can’t teach men or hold positions in the church. I don’t agree with it, but hey, I’m all about religious freedom and it’s their choice. I’ll let it pass, and without comment to boot. As long as they throw out all their polyester clothing and swear off shellfish as well.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/21/menonly.sundayschool.ap/index.html

South Africa’s Parliament Okays Gay Marriage: Another place may soon be on the right side of equality. Hmm, funny thing. This ‘Third World’ country is more progressive than we are. I wonder who really is the undeveloped one?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14499767/

FDA Okays Morning After Pill: Score! One more victory for women’s rights.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/08/24/morning.after.pill.ap/index.html

Website of the week: Another ecological footprint site, this one updated.
http://www.ecologicalfootprint.org/

UU Joke of the Week: It is said that when three UUs are together, among them on any subject there are at least four opinions!

Have a good weekend everybody.

Social Justice News, 8-3-06

Oil Safari: One intrepid reported did what has long been considered impossible –he traced the gasoline from one station back to the ground from whence it came. The story is both insightful and intriguing. The first link is to the broadband site, which includes videos, audio files, an interactive map, and most interesting of all, a constantly running counter that shows how many barrels of oil our country has burned since you entered the site. The second link is to the story itself, for those of us who (like me) either don’t have broadband or prefer to read print stories. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/broadband/chi-oilsafari-html,0,7894741.htmlstory
http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-oil-about-story,0,2013022.htmlstory

Chicago Passes ‘Living Wage’ Law!!!!: Last week Chicago passed the first law in the nation to require a living wage for any of its workers. Granted, the law isn’t perfect –it applies only to employees of large retailers –but it’s a start!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5587612

Creationists Kicked Off Kansas School Board: Two of the Kansas school board members who voted to include ‘intelligent design’ in the classroom were voted out of office this week, much to the surprise of many.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/02/kansasevolution.ap/index.html

Tent Village: The growing controversy over the homeless in France. It should be noted that the controversy didn’t start until a well-meaning philanthropist started handing out tents to the homeless, and that most of the complaints are because of the ‘eye-sore’.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5612453

Confusion = Profit ABC has unearthed evidence that an electricity co-op in Colorado paid a global warming skeptic to produce ‘evidence’ that it wasn’t happening –all in the name of stopping customer complaints over its dirty, polluting, coal-fired power plants.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/GlobalWarming/story?id=2242565&page=1

It’s the Sun, Not that SUV: Yet another organization, this time of religious evangelicals, claiming that global warming isn’t happening, or that, if it is, the sun is the reason.
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041403.cfm

‘Extra-Sunny’ (Satire): A satirical take on Bush’s determined denial of global warming.
http://www.bigfib.com/issue70/world4-en.html



Website of the week: A lot of interesting ideas for sustainable living.
http://www.eartheasy.com/

UU Joke of the Week: After the secular humanists came along, we said that UUs believe in One God - at Most.
Now, what with the 6th Source and the pagans, we say that UUs believe in One God - More or Less.

Handicapped Spots are for the Handicapped, Dumb A**!

The blue Corvette is parked in the same spot everyday. It’s a real nice car, as are all corvettes. Brand new and shiny, it reflects the sunlight and gleams in the faint light of evening as much as the bright light of morning. Every morning it is parked in the handicapped parking spot nearest the back door of the building where I work. Most days there is a handicap tag in the window. The kind that hangs on the rear view mirror. Somedays the tag is not there but there is no real danger of a ticket being handed out here. Cops do not patrol business parking lots in this area.

For months I have walked past this Corvette on my way in and out of the office. I always go in and out the back way because it is nearest my desk. That car always catches my attention in the mornings. How could it not? The sun lights it up like a gleaming chariot. A car such as that promises speed, freedom, the wind in your hair, the American Dream. Or says the ads. My little Saturn is functional, practical, good on gas. It suits all my needs in a vehicle. I would never get something as impractical as a Corvette even if I won the lottery ten times over. That’s just not my style.

Still though, as I walk past that car every morning, I can’t help but wonder who owns it. Mostly because of where it is parked. It is strange, to see such a high end car parked in a handicapped spot. That the owner does not work for my company I have long known. Only one person here has a Corvette, an old, beaten-up model he got as a teenager and refuses to part with. Since my company is the biggest employer in the building, this knowledge only deepened the mystery. My natural curiosity peaked, I have been trying to spot the owner every morning for the last several months.

This morning I finally got my chance. I was a few minutes late, having been delayed by construction and an accident on the interstate. I parked as near the door as I could, as has been my custom since acquiring this contraption on my foot a few weeks ago. I was sitting in my car, the door open, trying to fasten the straps on my boot, when the Corvette came screeching into the parking lot. Engine growling, brakes squealing, he spun through the lot and past his accustomed spot. In the time it took to blink an eye he had whipped his Dream Machine around and backed into the spot. Intrigued, I watched him out of the corner of my eye while I finished adjusting the fit of the boot. Who was this strange man who was handicapped and at the same time could afford, and was capable of driving, one of the famed Corvettes?

The driver took his time getting out of the car. He checked his face in the mirror then took a comb and ran it through his brown hair. Almost as an afterthought he hung the handicap decal around the rearview mirror before stepping out of the car. I looked him up and down. Middle-aged, with a barely visible beer belly. A cigarette dangled from his lips. In one hand he held a latte. He swaggered –that was the only word for it –up to the smoking portico and lounged against a column while enjoying his deadly habit. Every now and then he took a swig of his drink from the cup with the Starbucks logo. His shirt was a Polo shirt. The real kind, not the $5 knock off that I am wearing today. No logo was visible on his pants, but they looked like real wool. His shoes I recognized as those popular with the executives of my company and many others. One pair is more than a week’s pay for the likes of me.

This man was not even remotely handicapped. He had no limp, no problems. His biggest ‘handicap’ was obviously his self-indulgence and his arrogant attitude. I am more handicapped than him, even without the broken foot. How had this man gotten a handicap decal, I wondered? Though the answer isn’t hard to fathom. It could be his mother’s, or his father’s, or he may have simply slipped the commissioner a fifty under the counter. It happens all too often in this world. And the result? People who really need such spots often can’t get them. During the last six months of her life my mother was in a wheel chair. Whenever we took her anywhere we had to constantly fight for such handicap spots. At least a dozen times I reported vehicles without handicap tags parked in spots marked for them. When I see such things I want to scream ‘Handicap Spots are for the Handicapped, you dumb ass!’

This man made my blood boil. As I approached him on my way in he deigned to notice me. Here I came, loaded down with all the things I bring to work everyday, with an obvious limp and a big ole black boot on one foot. He looked me up and down. Was that a little gleam of guilt in his eye? I hope so. He rushed to open the door for me. I walked through graciously and muttered a quick thanks.

Jerk.