Social Justice News 10-27-06

Hey all,
Let me apologize for this being late –I had internet problems. This is going to be a rather abbreviated newsletter. I’ve had one heck of a week, which included losing my job and having to file unemployment for the first time in my life. For the time being I am on the ‘don’t get sick’ insurance plan along with 47 million other Americans. That’s one out of every six people in the country –and many of the rest are terribly underinsured, with policies that will pay for catastrophic occurrences such as an automobile wreck or cancer, but not for your child’s ear infection or a routine colonoscopy. We are the only industrial country that does not have a national health insurance plan. It seems to me like that should be a social justice issue –so why is most of the country silent on the matter?

Anyway, I haven’t had time to finish the write-up on the sustainability expo. I hope to have that ready by tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s the news!

Cameras to Comb Crowds: The newest homeland security device comes straight out of Orwell; they want to be able to watch people’s every move in crowds and identify people by facial recognition up to 200 feet from the camera. Gee, Canada is looking better and better isn’t it? Now where did I put that passport and my copy of O Canada?,,,,
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002887.html

Ecodamage Pictured From Space: National Geographic has come up with a cool new satellite atlas of the Earth that specifically shows the ecodamage that’s occurred over the past few decades.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061023-environment-map.html

Deeper and Deeper: More and more young adults are increasingly desperate to find a way to afford the escalating costs of college. To do so, they are often turning to private loans –which have an interest rate as high as 23% and aren’t covered by any of the government protections. What this amounts to is a legally sanctioned way to turn unsuspecting teenagers into serfs for the rest of their lives.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/25/MNGKKLVHCK1.DTL

Ecosystem Collapse ‘Likely’: Based on the new reports of overshoot, this observer says that collapse of the earth’s ecosystem’s is ‘likely’ if things go on as they are. Likely? That has to be the understatement of the year! If things don’t change, collapse isn’t just ‘likely’ –it is absolutely guranteed.
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1930722,00.html

Red River: No, this isn’t an exaggeration or a tale taken out of the Bible –this is real. The Yellow River in China has literally been running red since an unknown pollutant was dumped into it.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1550046,00.html

Here Come the Lawyers: Global warming has attracted the notice of the legal sharks. I can’t decide if this is a good thing or not!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15400060/
In the Dust: Economic ‘growth’ might be good for the bankers –but it leaves a lot of others behind. And that disparity is only getting worse.
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/members/101606_leaves_water.shtml

Website of the Week: The Farm, an intentional community and one of the presenters at last week’s sustainability expo: http://www.thefarm.org/

UU Joke of the Week: A Unitarian hymn:
"Praise Be to Whom It May Concern"

Have a good weekend everybody!