Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST

 

Is Hamilton the Next Flint?
Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST

 

The Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act of 1971, amended in 1973, primarily addressed lead-based paint in federally-funded housing. In 1978, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) banned the residential use of lead-based paint. Until 1977 in the US, the maximum level of lead allowed in consumer paints was 0.5%. The CPSC lowered the amount to 0.06%.

 

The federal Lead Contamination Control Act of 1988 ordered a recall of lead-lined drinking water coolers, which were common even in public schools. It wasn’t until 2011, however, that Congress passed the Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act, which didn’t become effective until January 4, 2014. As of that date, the federal law mandates the wetted surface of every pipe, fixture, and fitting sold for or installed in potable water applications not contain more than 0.25% lead by weight.

 

How are towns measuring this during inspections and the distribution of certificates of occupancy?

 

In addition, four states, California (2010), Vermont (2010), Maryland (2012) and Louisiana (2013), have enacted lead-free legislation to implement the reductions before the federal law takes effect. The EPA and state laws now require renovation contractor certification for lead-safe work practices, cleanup and disposal.

 

A 1994 study indicated that the concentration of lead in the blood of the US population had dropped 78% from 1976 to 1991. But it was estimated in 2002 that 38 million housing units in the US still had lead-based paint (down from the 1990 estimate of 64 million). Deteriorating lead paint and lead-containing household dust are a primary cause of chronic lead poisoning of children.

 

Residual lead in soil, caused by broken-down lead paint, residues from lead-containing gasoline, used engine oil, pesticides used in the past, contaminated landfills, or industry creates concern about the safety of urban agriculture. Tailpipe lead also contaminates the air we’ve been breathing.

 

Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems. It interferes with the development of the brain and is therefore particularly problematic for children, causing potentially permanent learning and behavior disorders. But the most startling and profound correlations to lead poisoning in children were reported by research around the turn of the millennium.

 

In 1994, Rick Nevin was a consultant working for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development on the costs and benefits of removing lead paint from old houses. A growing body of research was linking lead exposure in small children with a whole raft of complications later in life, including lower IQ, hyperactivity, behavioral problems, and learning disabilities.

 

But as Nevin was working on that assignment, a recent study had suggested a link between childhood lead exposure and juvenile delinquency. That took Nevin in a different direction. The biggest source of lead in the postwar era, it turns out, wasn’t paint – it was leaded gasoline. And if you chart the rise and fall of atmospheric lead caused by the rise and fall of leaded gasoline consumption, you get a pretty simple upside-down U: Lead emissions from tailpipes rose steadily from the early ’40s through the early ’70s, nearly quadrupling over that period. Then, as unleaded gasoline began to replace leaded gasoline, emissions plummeted.

 

Intriguingly, violent crime rates followed the same upside-down U pattern, except for the time period. Crime rates rose dramatically in the ’60s through the ’80s, and then began dropping steadily starting in the early ’90s. In a 2000 paper, Nevin concluded that if you add a lag time of 23 years, lead emissions from automobiles explain 90% of the variation in violent crime in America. Toddlers who ingested high levels of lead in the ’40s and ’50s were more likely to become violent criminals in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. Not only crime, but teenage pregnancy and diminished IQ patterns also followed the same curve.

 

In 2007, Nevin published a new paper looking at crime trends around the world, and found the same lead-crime correlation in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain, Finland, France, Italy, and West Germany. No country he studied failed to show this almost precise match.

 

In 2013, Tulane University researcher Howard Mielke published a paper with demographer Sammy Zahran on the correlation of lead and crime at the city level. They studied six US cities that had both good crime data and good lead data going back to the ’50s, and they found a good fit in every single one. In fact, Mielke has even studied lead concentrations at the neighborhood level in New Orleans and local police indicated that it mapped very closely to neighborhood crime rates.

 

Lead paint didn’t play a big role in the rise of crime in the postwar era and its subsequent fall, because unlike gasoline, lead paint was a fairly uniform problem during this period, especially in inner cities. In the first part of the 20th century, however, when use of lead paint did rise and then fall dramatically, murder rates rose and fell in tandem.

Recent neurological research is demonstrating that childhood lead exposure at nearly any level can seriously and permanently reduce IQ. The EPA now says that there is “no demonstrated safe concentration of lead in blood”. Not only does lead promote cell death in the brain, but the element is also chemically similar to calcium, so that it prevents calcium ions from doing their job, which causes physical damage to the developing brain that persists into adulthood.

 

Additionally, long-term (30-year) longitudinal studies that follow children through their lives, using MRI brain scans on exposed and non-exposed subjects, have found that high childhood lead exposure damages the parts of the brain that make us most human.

 

One such study found that lead exposure is linked to production of the brain’s white matter – primarily a substance called myelin, which forms an insulating sheath around the connections between neurons. When this is in deficit, neurons don’t communicate effectively, and the network connections within the brain become both slower and less coordinated.

 

Another study found that high exposure to lead during childhood was linked to a permanent loss of gray matter in the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain associated with what psychologists call “executive functions”: emotional regulation, impulse control, attention, verbal reasoning, and mental flexibility.

 

Yet another study found links between childhood lead exposure and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), even at concentrations well below those usually considered safe. In other words, even moderate levels of lead exposure are associated with aggressivity, impulsivity, ADHD, and lower IQ: the defining characteristics of a violent young offender.

 

 President Barack Obama pledged to offer support for the drinking water crisis in Flint, and environmental regulators were set to provide Congress with information about their role.

 

Blame is swirling after a switch in the water supply to the financially strapped city of 100,000 north of Detroit led to elevated levels of lead in drinking water.

"What is inexplicable and inexcusable is once people figured out that there was a problem there and that there was lead in the water, the notion that immediately families weren't notified, things weren't shut down," Obama said in an interview with CBS.

 

"If I were a parent up there, I would be beside myself that my kid's health could be at risk," Obama said after touring a car show in nearby Detroit.

 

Facing protests, lawsuits and calls for his resignation, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, apologized to the city's residents on Tuesday and called for the state to spend $28 million on fixes. The Michigan House quickly approved Snyder’s funding request on Wednesday.

 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, while saying it was reviewing its handling of the crisis and could have acted faster to inform the state of what measures it should take, also blamed the state on Tuesday. It said the agency's oversight was hampered by "failures and resistance at the state and local levels."

 

Flint, under a state-appointed emergency manager, switched to Flint River water in April 2014 from the Lake Huron supply that Detroit uses to save money.

 

Complaints about the water began within a month of the move. But Flint did not return to Detroit water until October 2015 after tests showed elevated levels of lead, which can cause brain damage and other health problems, in Flint tap water and in some children. Corrosive water from the river, known locally as a dumping ground, caused more lead to leach from Flint pipes than Detroit water did. The town council voted 7 to 1 to make the switch.  The outlier on the council was concerned about what could happen. No one listened.

 

"This is something nobody should have to deal with. Everybody should have clean water," Flint Mayor Karen Weaver told a conference in Washington.

 

"They need to be much more aggressive in what's going on with Flint," Weaver said later on CNN about the EPA's response.

 

In a speech on Tuesday, Snyder said federal, state and local leaders had failed residents. He asked Michigan lawmakers to authorize spending on diagnostic tests, health treatment for children and adolescents, replacement of old fixtures in Flint schools and day care centers and a study of the city's water pipes. Mayor Weaver should be arrested. She knew what the risks were and she allowed it.

 

Snyder, who has faced questions about how quickly he acted after learning about the water contamination, released 274 pages of Flint-related emails from 2014 and 2015 on Wednesday, ranging from press releases to staff memos and planning notes.

The governor’s then chief of staff told Snyder in a Sept. 26 email, “We can’t tolerate increased lead levels in any event, but it's really the city's water system that needs to deal with it. We’re throwing as much assistance as possible at the lead problem ... The residents and particularly the poor need help to deal with it.”

 

Also on Wednesday, Snyder appealed Obama's denial over the weekend of a federal major disaster declaration saying Flint faces a long-term threat and that such an order could bring additional help. On the same day Obama rejected the disaster declaration, he signed an emergency order for Flint.

 

A group of bipartisan lawmakers including Michigan Republican Fred Upton, of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote last week to EPA head Gina McCarthy, requesting a briefing about Flint.

 

The House committee letter mentioned reports that said people in Flint have been exposed to dangerous biological pathogens and chemicals in the drinking water. Although Flint has now switched back to Detroit's water system, lead levels in the city's water are still elevated. They did not flush the lines prior to making the switch back.

 

Separately, Representative Dan Kildee, a Democrat from Flint, said in an interview the $28 million sought by Snyder will not be enough to address Flint's long-term problems - including aiding as many as 9,000 children who may have suffered lead poisoning.

"These kids are going to need help for a long time," Kildee said. Snyder and the legislature need to "step up" and provide funding for long-term efforts beyond fixing the water system.

 

Kildee said the EPA may bear some blame for not blowing the whistle publicly earlier, but the state bears most of the responsibility.

 

Several lawsuits have been filed in the case. The latest on Tuesday asked a judge to stop Flint from issuing shutoff notices to residents who are still receiving bills for water declared undrinkable.

 

As the 'investigations' proceed on the Flint crisis there are a variety of related issues and questions that one ought to hope or even expect the media to attempt to cover. Whether the media is up to that challenge is of course one of those side-issues.

Are the levels and divisions of responsibility for water quality properly understood in the Flint case? How much responsibility and control does the city have, how much the state, and does the federal government have specific or just a consulting & evaluating responsibility if notified of a potential problem?

Given this highly visible news event in Flint, how many other communities in the nation are being provided with water that doesn't meet their specific state's or federal water quality requirements? Is Flint a unique and rare event or just a particularly extreme degree of events that are more common in representing a condition occurring in other locations?

Water quality for public consumption is surely a local or state responsibility, there is no reason to expect that the federal government is expected to be directly involved. In fact, doesn't the public want these responsibilities to be handled by state/local authorities who they can trust and depend on, and not be a 'big' government issue. This raises the question of should the federal government interfere and engage in assisting the state & city in addressing this crisis? After all, no one wants 'big' government inserting itself into their states' business (except when the state and/or city fails to perform it responsibilities or is unable to be prepared for matters of their own doing).

On the technical and scientific side, why wasn't there any indication and assessment of what was happening to water quality and the 'cause and effect' consequences of the situation being brought to the officials, the media and the public in a timely manner? When the media event that had a sample of water being drank to show how safe it was, who or what prevented an even a moderately knowledgeable individual from pointing out the scientifically invalid and irresponsible dimensions of that event?

Why did no one request that those in charge of providing the water be prepared to validate and verify that the water being provided was in fact safe? It was and is very easy to do. If a simple request had been made, there is an almost zero probability that this situation would have been allowed to occur and it would have had a zero probability of continuing.

The underlying failure here is a lack of problem-solving skills. Failure to govern, to manage, to evaluate, to question, to investigate, to report, to challenge, and to hold anyone accountable before and during the decision processes. This failure wasn't confined to just the governmental entities, it encompasses the media, businesses, non-profits, political parties, and the public itself. If you think the factors that lead to Flint's problems are confined to Flint, I would assert that the probability of that being true is also a near-zero probability.

 

Systems don't work if the people responsible for overseeing them don't bother to do their jobs, and aren't even informed and educated about the things they are supposed to be paying attention to. This is not unique to Flint. In Hamilton, NJ, Mercer County, the local government has decided to ignore the public on critical issues, they are completely unresponsive. Government and political employees have become all about face time and addressing the current polls, and are so busy primping in the green room mirror and obsessing about themselves that they completely blow off the responsibilities they are charged with carrying out. 

As long as we allow and accept this system they have created of branding, messaging, and appearances to be the way things are supposed to be then this is what we will get. Any time an elected official chooses to go along with "the system" over being their own man or woman and doing the right thing, they need to be flogged, and flogged hard.

 

It could take up to 15 years and more than $60 million to replace lead water service lines in Flint, according to emails released by Gov. Rick Snyder. A Sept. 28, 2015, briefing sent to the governor detailed the cost and timeline associated with replacing the more than 15,000 lead service lines in the city.

 

"Even if many crews were contracted, it would likely take up to 15 years to complete this work," the briefing reads. There are less than 33,000 total service connections in the city.

The average cost to replace a lead service line at an individual home costs $2,000-$8,000, the briefing claims.

 

The Jan 20th, there was a release of 274 pages of documents, including communications on Flint water issues, public safety and lawsuits. However, only seven emails sent by Snyder on the city's water system were included in the distribution.  Many of the documents included previously-distributed press releases, talking points and studies.

The release of the emails comes after repeated calls from the local press and others for Snyder to make all of his communications on Flint water public.

 

There is something terribly disturbing about the contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan. When state leaders can’t even deliver basic services such as safe drinking water, they have failed.

 

The background to the tragic situation in Flint is an austerity politics that saught to cut back basic government services in the name of cost-cutting.

 

The city of Flint switched its water source from Lake Huron (which is where Detroit gets its water) to the Flint River in April 2014. It was a move designed to save a very economically depressed city some money. It was the wrong move. An Emergency Manager appointed by Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed off on the decision. Rather than putting the interests of citizens first, the unelected, all-powerful Emergency Manager was charged with making hard-headed “business” decisions. That approach—in Flint and elsewhere around the country—has had disastrous results.

 

Right away, children and residents got sick from drinking the water, even though the city managers assured them it was safe.  By August, the water tested positive for E-coli and by September 2014, citizens had been advised to boil their water before drinking it by local officials.

 

In January 2015, residents were lining up daily to get free bottled water and the city was found to be in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The number of children testing positive for elevated levels of lead had skyrocketed since the switch from Lake Huron. By April 2015 city officials were demanding that the water source be changed back but had no power to make it happen. State officials, led by Governor Snyder, dragged their feet and did not take the unfolding disaster seriously. It got worse.

 

By July 2015, the governor’s office still did nothing substantial to deliver safe drinking water to the citizens in the city. Children continued to suffer. It was only just recently, after months of delay and failed leadership, and calls from citizens for the arrest and indictment of Governor Snyder, that the Snyder administration finally declared a state of emergency.  

 

The state now is providing access o clean water to the citizens of Flint. Governor Snyder apologized twice to the city for his mistakes. Yet doctors say it will take years to determine the extent of damage to children in the city due to exposure to lead. The children who sustained brain damage will never recover.

 

The water crisis in Flint did not have to happen. The council (aka the clowncil) voted 7 to 1 to pass changing the water source and not one person in any leadership position did anything to stop it. They ignored the residents, they ignored the DEP, they ignored everyone. This behavior is not only seen in Flint. This self serving attitude is rampant in local government. It's disgraceful.

 

Just as Michigan did not have to cut corners on safe drinking water, politicians around the country are putting cost cutting ahead of health of thousands of citizens in their states by refusing to accept the federal funds to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

 

This is no way to serve the people. The people of Flint and others deserve a government responsive to their basic needs, not one beholden to an anti-democratic ideology.

 

The State Of Michigan is responsible for the decision to switch to the river water because the city was under Mr. Kurtz and Mr. Early who were appointed legally by  Mr. Snyder to be emergency managers of the city. Thus, taking authority for decision making away from the mayor and city council in certain time frames when decisions were made. As for the treatment of the river water, it is believed that many from local through state government will be held negligent. Considering the long duration from when city residents started complaining about the water and state government finally coming clean and admitting the problem, the target will be on directors of the MDEQ, State of Michigan Health Department, and Gov. Snyder because the buck will stop at their  desks. The Federal EPA should be held accountable also. The large documentation of lack of response by officials will hopefully place these politicians into a life of incarceration.  They are all responsible.  

  

Academy Takes Historic Action to Increase Diversity
Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST

 

“The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “These new measures regarding governance and voting will have an immediate impact and begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition.”

 

 

 

Beginning later this year, each new member’s voting status will last 10 years, and will be renewed if that new member has been active in motion pictures during that decade.  In addition, members will receive lifetime voting rights after three ten-year terms; or if they have won or been nominated for an Academy Award.  We will apply these same standards retroactively to current members.  In other words, if a current member has not been active in the last 10 years they can still qualify by meeting the other criteria.  Those who do not qualify for active status will be moved to emeritus status.  Emeritus members do not pay dues but enjoy all the privileges of membership, except voting.  This will not affect voting for this year’s Oscars. 

 

 

At the same time, the Academy will supplement the traditional process in which current members sponsor new members by launching an ambitious, global campaign to identify and recruit qualified new members who represent greater diversity. 

 

 

In order to immediately increase diversity on the Board of Governors, the Academy will establish three new governor seats that will be nominated by the President for three-year terms and confirmed by the Board.

 

The Academy will also take immediate action to increase diversity by adding new members who are not Governors to its executive and board committees where key decisions about membership and governance are made. This will allow new members an opportunity to become more active in Academy decision-making and help the organization identify and nurture future leaders.

 

 

Along with Boone Isaacs, the Board’s Membership and Administration Committee, chaired by Academy Governor Phil Robinson, led the efforts to enact these initiatives.

MLK: Honor
Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST

More than ever, I am respectful of those who paved the way for our American freedom.  I have read stirring words from the founding fathers that have inspired me to work to maintain what they had first established. 

Since his tragic murder in 1968, our nation has remembered Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Since 1983, when his birthday became a federal holiday, we have formally commemorated his legacy on the third Monday of January. The first MLK Day featured events all over the country, and a bust of Dr. King was dedicated at the U.S. Capitol.

Over the years, we have all had different ways of celebrating the man and his message. 

Today, we tend think of the battle over “civil rights” as a fight over money and privileges. Forgotten in much of the contemporary rhetoric is the fact that the early days of the Civil Rights Movement were simply about demanding that everyone recognize the full humanity of African Americans. In fact the striking sanitation workers in Memphis—the very event where King would speak the night before his death—were carrying signs that simply read: “I am a man.”

The Americans who marched with Dr. King wore the cleanest, neatest clothes they could afford because they were championing the idea that they were worthy of respect and equal protection under the law. Freedom, as the founders of our country and the Civil Rights leaders understood it, was not a license to behave any way they chose. It was indeed the right to pursue happiness as they saw fit, as long as it did not harm or encumber others. But it was taken for granted that such pursuits would be grounded in self-respect, as well as respect for others. They knew that to be the only way that freedom does not give way to chaos.

Yet since all the legislative gains bought with the blood of Dr. King and many others, it seems there is a movement to diminish the humanity of Americans again. From obscene song lyrics and videos to sociopathic behaviors featured on the evening news, dress and conduct that would have horrified Dr. King and his followers has been romanticized as what it means to be authentically “black.”

How ironic, that African Americans fought so hard to be respected as equals, only to have so many voluntarily degrade themselves. In his famous I Have a Dream Speech, Dr. King urged, “We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: ‘For Whites Only.’” Yet today, too many of our children are casting their dignity aside. And of course these problems extend far beyond the black community. 

On the day we remember Martin Luther King Jr. and his importance to our society, we should reflect on him as not only a man of perseverance and soaring oratory but as a moral philosopher who led souls.

His majestic words are chronicled in the widely quoted “I Have a Dream” and “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” but the accuracy of his moral compass was evident long before in lesser-known speeches, sermons and writings.

The year was 1960, and King’s speech to a conference of the National Urban League revealed an introspective moral tone that served notice of the universality of freedom and human rights. The “struggle for human dignity is not an isolated event,” he said in an address titled “The Rising Tide of Racial Consciousness,” delivered to an overflow crowd. “It is a drama being played on the stage of the world with spectators and supporters from every continent.”

To King, the liberation movements that had begun to end colonialism in Africa and Asia, and the still-to-come March on Washington, the Selma and Birmingham campaigns, and Mississippi Freedom Summer were all part of a larger, unified human milieu. Embodied in each was the awakening of the self-respect that allows a person to toss off the yoke of oppression and “come to feel that he is somebody.” It knows no color or border, King would say, and it inspires people “with a new determination to struggle and sacrifice until first-class citizenship becomes a reality.”

With heads held high, millions would march and sacrifice blood and sweat for voting rights, fair public accommodations and educational opportunities. Buttressing those political goals were loftier spiritual truths. “The primary reason for our uprooting racial discrimination from our society is that it is morally wrong,” King would remind the audience that day and marchers every day. “It relegates persons to the status of things. Whenever racial discrimination exists it is a tragic expression of man’s spiritual degeneracy and moral bankruptcy. Therefore, it must be removed not merely because it is diplomatically expedient, but because it is morally compelling.”

Generations have lived and died since King delivered those words, their meaning still searingly resonant. In those words was the riveting truth that no one is truly free until everyone is free. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” he said, and “no American can afford to be apathetic about the problem of racial justice. It is a problem that meets every man at his front door.”

King’s voice could capture a spirit and was filled with ideas for the good not only of black Americans in Southern fields or Northern factories, but of all people in all hemispheres. It is the reason his voice will live forever as a great American and leader of humanity.

Full text to the "I Have A Dream" speech:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

New Sculpture Exhibition at HAM Engages the Poetic Eye
Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST

Self Taught Artist Expands into Stipling
Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST

 

 

 

 

Parker comes from humble beginnings. She graduated from high school, and attended City College of New York where she majored in Art and History.  Today, Mrs. Parker is the president and CEO of The Expressions of Tani’s World ( TEoTW).

 

http://www.teotwbrand.com

 

Mrs. Parker has created a Facebook fan page as an open display of her numerous artistic mediums.  The name of the page is, The Expressions of Tani’s World.  She showcases her unlimited creative hand doing what she does best; painting beautiful art for people to purchase and hang up on their walls at their place of business or at home.

 

Mrs. Parker devotes her time and energy to meaningful art for people. In some of the pictures you see an array of styles creatively crafted. In one picture, she has successfully drawn a beautiful red flower. In another picture, she has painted a successful image of herself, as you see her daughter alongside her mother’s hand crafted art painting and smiling.

 

Mrs. Parker continues to inspire people with her awesome and artistic hand worked products. Get to know Mrs. Parker and be inspired by her unique art and related products.

 

Painting is her first love. There are  pieces available for sale and you can see them on display at the Fusia Dance Center, in Pocono, PA. You can contact Mrs. Parker at orders@teotwbrand.com.  Prints will be available soon.

Promoting the Wrong People Creates Disaster
Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST

 

It’s effect on the team

Hiring the wrong person generally impacts a small part of the organization. You also have ways of recovering from it through extra training, flexibility in duties, or just hiring someone else if it comes to that. When you promote the wrong person into a leadership role, it has a far wider effect on the organization and can have disastrous effects. Nowhere is that more apparent than the effects it has on your team:

Insulting – Your best people generally want to move forward in their careers. They want the recognition, the development and the money that goes along with it as well. They have a lot invested in seeing that promotion from a practical and emotional perspective. When you promote an inferior candidate over them that emotion can easily take over and result in them being insulted. The feeling is that you do not recognize, appreciate or care about their efforts.

Lack of Trust – If they feel that you have made the wrong decision on something as important as selecting leaders, then how many other poor decisions have you made? This may put the first crack in the foundation of trust and as they take a closer look at past and present decisions from the emotional standpoint noted above more cracks are likely to be created (rightly or wrongly).

Productivity – With the demoralizing feeling of being insulted and the creation of a lack of trust it opens the door to sometimes dramatic productivity decreases. If they feel that their hard-work isn’t being recognized or rewarded, then they may wonder why they should bother to put forth the effort. Couple this with the fact that you now have an inferior leader in your department and you have the worst of both situations: a poor coach and poor players.

Turnover – The final and costliest result of poor promoting is when team members decide to leave because they feel they have better prospects elsewhere or they have lost faith in your leadership. This costs you in losing their expertise, shaking up the team dynamic, the time and money to hire a new person, and the time and effort to train the new person

The first key to stopping this is of course to promote the right people. Focusing on getting a clear understanding of the role you are promoting into, the skills required to be successful, and not bowing to outside pressure from people who aren’t as informed as you. The second, and most important thing, is to talk it through with each of the candidates who did not get the promotion. You may be lucky enough to have several great team members who would do well in the role, but you could only choose one. It’s important that they know what went into your decision and where they need to improve so that they get the next promotion. You don’t need to justify your decision; you simply want to be transparent with them so that they don’t mistakenly go down the road noted above.

So take your promotions just as seriously, if not more seriously, than your hiring decision. Their impact on your existing operation can be immense.

Acts of Kindness Gone Awry in 'Arsenic and Old Lace' at MCCC’s Kelsey Theatre Jan. 22 to 31
Topic: ART NEWS

 

TRENTON NJ: 15 Miles of bike trails
Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST

 

TRENTON NJ: 15 Miles of bike trails 

 

 

Did you know that there are 15 miles of marked bike path in the city of Trenton. There is a wonderful gravel/paved/dirt path that takes you behind the scenes in Trenton. Then you enter the city. The city does a GREAT job of marking the trail, keeping riders safe from vehicles, keeping pedestrians safe as well and giving one a great tour of the city at the same time. Trenton has done an outstanding job of developing this trail system and focusing on pedestrian/runners and bikers safety. WAY TO GO!!

 

Photos of trail 

 

 https://www.facebook.com/Duffyculturalcourture/posts/536468199849088

 

Video of trail

 

 https://www.facebook.com/Duffyculturalcourture/videos/536468426515732/?theater

 

 

WEED WORLD: Open 420 Days a Year
Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST

 

WEED WORLD: Open 420 Days a Year

 

 

 

In 1970, the US Congress placed marijuana in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act because they considered it to have "no accepted medical use." Since then, 23 or 50 US states and DC have legalized the medical use of marijuana.

Proponents of medical marijuana argue that it can be a safe and effective treatment for the symptoms of cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, pain, glaucoma, epilepsy, and other conditions. There are dozens of peer-reviewed studies, prominent medical organizations, major government reports, and the use of marijuana as medicine throughout world history.

Opponents of medical marijuana argue that it is too dangerous to use, lacks FDA-approval, and that various legal drugs make marijuana use unnecessary. They say marijuana is addictive, leads to harder drug use, interferes with fertility, impairs driving ability, and injures the lungs, immune system, and brain. They say that medical marijuana is a front for drug legalization and recreational use.

 

In 2012, when Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana, statehouse debates on the subject were mainly confined to enforcement, criminality, and addiction. How would the state avoid becoming a destination for drifters, addiction, and cannabis-related crime? And how would the budding industry look to conservative outsiders? Lobbying groups spent significant money on arguments for and against legalization, fueling endless disagreement. But absent from all of the mudslinging was a conversation about what would happen if THC in Colorado proved a rousing success—if the nation embraced the product as a health and recreation option and came to Colorado in droves.

 

Three years later, the initiative has, by most accounts, proven to be an economic boon. In 2014, Colorado marijuana sales totalted $700 million, and the state expects to collect $94 million annually in cannibas taxes by 2016. But economic analyses about weed’s success never mention skyrocketing housing prices in Denver, a city that’s rapidly becoming unaffordable for all but the wealthy.

 

When one enters Denver, is a bit like flying into a dystopian wasteland—but not the addict-ridden zombieland marijuana opponents imagined in 2012. Instead, enormous development projects rise out of the ground in all directions, wood and metal scraping against the eternally blue, big west sky. Denver smells green. Like weed—and money. Lots of money. And its residents are in trouble.

 

In the first six months of this year, recreational income from cannabis totaled over $253 million in Colorado. Denver, which has housed regulated marijuana operations since 2009, when Colorado codified its medical marijuana practices and nearby cities said no to cannabis business in their jurisdictions, now hosts around 4.5 million square feet of marijuana grow space in its industrially zoned areas. So, should residents worry if companies are coming into their towns primarily focused on creating large warehouse spaces?

 

The city plans to use most of its weed tax revenue on enforcement and drug education efforts. The effects of the green growth on housing, however, have been nothing short of controversial: Few can agree on the cumulative effects of legal cannabis on community and city development. But Denver residents are solid on one thing—that the rent is too high.

 

The city, for its part, is finally taking measures to protect affordable housing, although some say it's too little too late. In mid-September, Denver’s City Council voted through another measure to preserve rapidly disappearing affordable housing —the city will now require owners of affordable units to give at least a year’s notice if they plan to convert their property to market rate rentals or sell it. This means that the city will have more time to negotiate or raise funds to buy properties, ostensibly keeping them as affordable units instead of market-rate ones. This is a clear example of poor planing by politicians, planning councils, etc. This unfortunately is the typical behavior demonstrated by these groups throughout the USA. They lack the ability to think about the big picture and how all aspects are effected until its too late. 

 

This latest measure is part of Michael Mayor Hancock’s affordable housing strategy, which seeks a steady revenue stream of $15 million a year to subsidize building new affordable units. Affordable housing is usually defined as income-qualified housing available to people who make less than 80 percent of the area median income.  In Denver, 80% of area median income (AMI) is $43,000 per year. Together, this indicates that Hancock’s plan is meant to serve middle income folks—not to preserve or expand housing for people in poverty.

 

J.P. Speers, a real estate broker at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, believes that legal marijuana has pushed the housing market up. Between millennial's who are influenced to move by the idea of legal access to the drug and out-of-state entrepreneurs looking to establish themselves in the industry, Speers says people want to be in Denver. “I do believe that there has been a huge amount of individuals who have moved out here specifically for the marijuana industry, and it has affected the housing market,” he said. 

Speers started finding real estate for marijuana industry folk after a fellow realtor friend helped find space for Denver’s first medical cannabis dispensary in 2002. Now, having become a broker for marijuana industry workers himself, he gets three or four calls a week from clients interested in finding space for grow operations. Because banks still won’t work with the industry (which is, again, illegal in most parts of the U.S.), many of these entrepreneurs pay in cash. Speers also said he has noticed a significant number of out-of-staters from Florida, Arizona and California buying houses in cash and (he presumes) establishing extralegal grow operations.

 

Carrie Makarewicz, an urban planning professor at the University of Colorado Denver, on the other hand, doesn’t think the presence of the marijuana industry has a lot to do with the current housing crisis. High costs of living in coastal cities like Boston, New York, San Francisco, and L.A., Makarewicz says, have prompted higher-paid workers to leave oceanside homes for second-tier cities like Denver, And millennials are also moving in droves—for jobs in tech, oil and gas, and other industries, perceived high quality of life, and “recreational opportunities.”

 

At a time of massive mimgration, Denver also faces a shortage of low to mid-price housing. For Makarewicz, Colorado's condo defects legislation, which says that condo owners can due the developers over construction deficits, has deterred builders from creating anything but luxury condos. Housing costs continue to soar, and wages for workers remain stagnant. Colorado’s minimum wage is just $8.23 per hour,  while in 2014 the average Denver resident needed to earn at least $35 an hour to afford to live in the city, according to a Zillow study. 

 

While prices and populations are up in Colorado cities that aren’t as friendly to the cannabis business, the change is far more dramatic in Denver. Colorado Springs, the second-most populous city in the state, experienced 6.8% population growth from 2010 to 2014, compared to Denver’s 10.6 percent. And in Colorado Springs, housing prices increased 5.4% in the past year, while they soared by 17% in Denver. 

 

Mike Elliott, executive director of Denver’s Marijuana Industry Group, said it’s hard to measure the impacts of retail cannabis, because neither the state government nor academics have done serious studies. And it doesn’t seem like either group plans to. Andrew Goetz, chair of the Geography department of the University of Denver, told me he doesn’t know anyone planning studies on the effects of retail cannabis on development in Denver, but said that someone should do the research soon. “If you were to talk to any of the tourism groups, they would say that our record tourism has nothing to do with retail marijuana,” Elliott said. “I think every day that goes by—that sounds more and more ridiculous.” State tourism records may not even accurately capture Colorado’s boom because they don’t record data from non-formal tourism giants like Airbnb.

In a neighborhood dubbed RiNo—short for River North, a cutesy and rather recent appropriation of New York’s penchant for shortening neighborhood names into two brand-able syllables—developers and marijuana growers have engaged in bidding wars for industrial warehouses, and the big losers are the artists who used to make work in them. Cannabis cultivation needs square footage, but it can make use of subpar industrial warehouses—the same type of uninsulated, undeveloped space artists and small nonprofit or creative projects thrive on. As a result, industrial vacancies are at an all time low, and warehouse rent is much higher than it has ever been.

 

Brian Freeland, founder of the LIDA Project—an experimental theater company that was once housed in a warehouse in RiNo, before the owners flipped the building and sold it to a law group—said that interest in development and a pro-growth, pro-business city council increased real estate profits. In his opinion, the legalization of marijuana was a kind of death knell for arts space in Denver. “When you have an almost overnight boom industry, as you see with marijuana, it’s looking for space. And it’s an industry that is making money, so that industry can pay premium for space,” Freeland said. “When you put that against another industry that is historically underfunded and historically not supported by the same kind of city government and mayor’s office, you get a very unfair balance in which the arts are competing in a market economy.” As a consequence, many artists are now looking outside the city of Denver—to nearby Aurora and other suburbs—for a climate more affordable and amenable to the arts. In the end, it doesn’t seem to matter whether legal marijuana increased the value of real estate in the city, or if it’s the result of the Denver city council’s priorities; on the ground, the artists are fleeing anyway.

 

Other economically vulnerable residents are also feeling pushed out. Benjamin Donlon, 27, an organizer working with Denver Homeless Out Loud, a homelessness rights organization, said that many factors in Denver’s economic boom lead to higher housing prices. It’s caused more homelessness in the past year. “I will say that the marijuana industry is driving a lot of development here… there’s definitely a big drive from people from California coming here to start developing the models for the future, which is driving prices through the roof,” Donlon said.

 

Freeland, for his part, wonders if the cannabis rush is just another point in the history of the West’s all or nothing economy—it’s an area of the country that’s historically prided itself on creating profit from wide open space, on colonizing land in the spirit of property and new industry.

 

“The West loves its individual spirit, but we’ve never really planned for the successes or for the failures of our boom and bust economy,” Freeland said. “From the gold rush through the oil boom, through the tech booms to marijuana production—we’re ultimately going to pay the price of not having the foresight of planning.” 

Freeland is right. Denver is treading water: trying to regulate growth it didn’t plan for, and reaping the benefits of cannabis sales without studying their long-term effects. If history is any indication, we’ll go on madly lurching toward expansive profits in this gold rush, the cost to Denver’s long-term residents and culture be damned.

 

The other thing to be concerned about is how these "treats" are manufactured. During a run in NYC on New Year's eve we came across a decorated truck. 

 

Weed World Candies launched in 1999 with the goal to get Marijuana & Hemp legalized and industrialized. They tour the country in a fleet of "loud" vehicles promoting the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana. 

Their product strains include Bubble Kush, O.G Kush, Strawberry Cough, White Widow, SkyWalker Kush, Purple Urkle, and A.K 47 to name a few.

 

Watch this video on you tube that demonstrates the manufacturing processes utilized by Weed World. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCcH6iPGNWc

 

One word can describe their process.....Filthy. As you watch this video take notice of how dirty the equipment is, mounds of grease that can easily fleck off into the product. The employees are wearing gloves, work gloves that are filthy. They are touching the product with their filthy gloves. Again, instilling the possibility of adding horrific contaminants to the product. 

 

Those we spoke to about these products also commented that they are selling "fake pot".  Those who purchased the "pot pops" did not get stoned. They were annoyed. What is their "special ingredient?" Weed World makes the claim they are adding pot powder to their treats, however there is nothing that actually proves that. They could be putting anything into their product. How does anyone know going into any of the dispensaries in Colorado that they are not following the same manufacturing processes seen in this video by Weed World, you don't. That is the scary part. 

 

Weed World could be viewed as a group that is not helping the cause of "weed awareness" but actually helping those opposed to build their case against legalization. The Weed World Street sales team will say anything to get a sale, according to those we spoke to.  They are selling food in NYC without a permit. Mayor DeBlasio I think would not be happy about this.

 

This is a very complicated issue. The laws on marijuana possession all over the map. Some states/towns allow you to have less than 60 pounds, yes pounds of grass before they would arrest you. Whereas others a few grams will get you arrested.

 

NY Marijuana laws: For a first offender, possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana is punishable by a fine of $100.  If an additional offense occurs within three years of the first offense, possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana is punishable by a fine of $200. For the third or subsequent offense(s) within a three-year period, possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana is punishable by a fine of $250 and/or imprisonment of 15 days or less. Possession of marijuana in excess of 25 grams but less than 2 ounces is a class B misdemeanor and is punishable by no more than 3 months imprisonment. Possession of marijuana in excess of 2 ounces but less than 8 ounces is a class A misdemeanor and is punishable by no more than 1 year of imprisonment.

 

New Orleans Marijuana laws: For first offenders, possession of less than 60 pounds of marijuana is punishable by a fine of up to $500 and/or up to 6 months of imprisonment.  Second offenses are punishable by a fine of $250-$2500 and/or up to 5 years of imprisonment. Both first and second offenders may be eligible for probation, which will include 32 hours of community service and a substance abuse program, the cost of probation will be paid by the defendant. Third and subsequent offenses are punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and/or up to 20 years of imprisonment. *Conviction of any crime involving controlled substances results in denial of driving privileges for not less than 30 days but not more than 1 year.

 

Texas Marijuana Laws: Possession of 2 ounces or less of marijuana is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days imprisonment and a fine not to exceed $2,000. Possession of between 2 and 4 ounces of marijuana is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment of up to 1 year and a fine not to exceed $4,000. Possession of between 4 ounces and 5 lbs. of marijuana is a state jail felony, punishable by a mandatory minimum sentence of 180 days imprisonment, a maximum of 2 years imprisonment, and a fine not to exceed $10,000. 

 

Atlanta Marijuana Laws: Possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months imprisonment and/or a fine up to $1,000. Possession of over an ounce is a felony punishable by a minimum of 1 and maximum of 10 years imprisonment. * Any conviction of a marijuana possession, sale, or cultivation offense results in suspension of driving license.

 

 Miami Marijuana Laws: Possession of 20 grams or less is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum sentence of 1 year imprisonment and a maximum fine of $1,000. Possession of more than 20 grams is a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $5,000. Possession of 25 or more plants is a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail and a fine of $10,000. Possession of less than 25 plant is a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $5,000.  *Conviction causes a driver’s license suspension for a period of 2 years. 

 

Weed World states that they are open 7 days a week, 420 days a year. I realize 2016 is a leap year....but that does not add an additional 55 days to the year. What is that "special ingredient" that they add that adds 55 days to our year?