Thursday, January 31st, 2013
PAT GAROFALO, - Think Progress
Stephan: The extreme economic distress being felt by many Americans has not been the focus of much public attention recently. But, as this report make clear, the truth is 44% of us are teetering on the edge.
The Republican focus on cutting spending, and the policies they have sabotaged in the service of that philosophy are the source of much of this misery. Instead of pursuing austerity we should be pursuing a massive program of infrastructure construction, which would create millions of jobs. That in turn would stimulate the economy and resolve much of this. It would also bring an increasingly backward nation back from its decay.
A new report from the Corporation for Enterprise Development shows that many Americans are just one financial hit away from poverty, as the nation slowly drags itself out of the Great Recession. According to the report, nearly half of Americans lack enough savings to keep themselves out of poverty for more than three months in the event of a financial shock such as a lost job or medical emergency:
Almost half (43.9%) of U.S. households are living on the edge of financial collapse with almost no savings to fall back on in the event of a job loss, health crisis or other income-depleting emergency, according to a report released today by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED).
The 2013 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard defines these families as ‘liquid asset poor,
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Thursday, January 31st, 2013
Stephan: Lest one think that only Muslims are infected with the patriarchal religious insanity bug, here is an example taken right out of the iconic American city, New York, and its community of ultra-orthodox Jews. All of these men, be they Muslims, Christians, or Jews, seem to be defined by their severe sexual dysfunction.
In ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities across New York state, women wear long skirts and long-sleeved, high-necked blouses on the street; men wear suits and white collar shirts, buttoned to the neck; and girls are told the precise color and thickness of the stockings they can wear to school.
And these aren’t just recommendations – community modesty codes are strictly enforced. Not just by social custom, but by a self-appointed, shadowy group of men who police a predominantly Hasidic neighborhood in North Brooklyn, according to a report in the New York Times.
‘They operate like the Mafia,
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Thursday, January 31st, 2013
Stephan: As the father of two Waldorf educated daughters, and the husband of a career Waldorf teacher, I have observed the truth of this report.
Ronlyn kept baskets of bits and pieces in baskets in her classroom, and not a single formal toy. It was fascinating to watch the inventiveness of her 5 year olds, and the many uses to which a corn cob, some pieces of 2x4 lumber, and colored scarves could be turned as her students created imaginary worlds. Their play required imagination in a way no video game, or complete miniature recreation could possibly stimulate.
What surprised me was that Ronlyn often had to teach her children to play when the school year began. Initially they would just sit, waiting to be entertained by some electronic gadget, or to push buttons. Play is the business of childhood, because it stimulates the brains of children, and imagination is an essential part of the process. Modern toys which leave nothing to the imagination, and risk-free plastic playgrounds completely miss this point.
In 1888, the psychologist Stanley Hall published a story about a sand pile. A minor classic, it describes how a group of children created a world out of a single load of sand. These children were diligent, they were imaginative, they were remarkably adult.
More than a century later, at the architect David Rockwell’s Imagination Playground in lower Manhattan, small humans scurry back and forth all day long, carrying Rockwell’s oversized blue foam blocks from self-devised task to self-devised task. These children are intent, they are cooperative, they are resourceful. The scene resembles nothing so much as Stanley Hall’s sand pile-with each grain of sand much bigger and much bluer. (Except for the bits of actual sand, that is.)
More than any playground in recent memory, the Imagination Playground has inspired an outburst of excitement. It’s a hit with the hip parents who take their kids to Dan Zanes concerts, and is just as crowded as one. But it also represents something much more mundane: the triumph of loose parts. After a century of creating playgrounds for children, of drilling swing sets and plastic forts into the ground, we have come back to children creating their own playgrounds. Loose parts-sand, water, blocks-are […]
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Thursday, January 31st, 2013
MARC LIFSHER, - Los Angeles Times
Stephan: Here is more on the trend to create a new non-carbon energy system, which should be one of the nation's highest priorities.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, who has pushed to bring a football stadium to Los Angeles, also wants to bring wind power to California.
A plan being marketed in Sacramento would bring California utilities thousands of megawatts of electricity from a massive wind farm in Wyoming being developed by the entertainment and energy mogul who also developed L.A. Live and Staples Center.
The idea is being promoted by Wyoming state officials who say that, besides benefiting Anschutz, it could be an economic boost for the Cowboy State and an environmental plus for California, providing cleaner power at a good price.
The proposal comes at a time when renewable energy is a priority for California utilities. A state law requires that by 2020, they produce 33 percent of their power from renewable sources, such as wind, solar and geothermal. A variety of California companies already provide wind power, and other firms in and out of the state have also expressed interest in providing renewable power.
The proposed Wyoming wind farm and high-voltage transmission line — aimed for completion between 2016 and 2018 — face regulatory, corporate and political hurdles.
In California, its supporters highlight the environmental and economic pluses, while doubters question the wisdom […]
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Thursday, January 31st, 2013
, - Agence France-Presse (France)
Stephan: Saudi Arabia is unquestionably the weirdest country I have ever visited. As a nation it is a cautionary tale of what happens when ultra-religious men are in control. Nothing creative happens, and the country's social structure becomes so obsessed with controlling and suppressing women that daily life becomes truly bizarre.
Saudi authorities have ordered shops employing both men and women to build separation walls to enforce the strict segregation laws of the ultra-conservative kingdom, local press reported Monday.
The order that was issued by labour minister Adel Faqih also had the stamp of Abdullatif al-Sheikh, the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, commonly known as Mutawa and religious police, several dailies reported.
It stipulated that a separation barrier, not shorter than 1.6 metres (over five feet), should be erected to divide working men and women.
Authorities in June 2011 told lingerie shops to replace their salesmen, mostly Asian, with Saudi saleswomen. This directive was later extended to cosmetic outlets.
Saudi women have long complained they feel uncomfortable having to buy lingerie from men and would prefer female sales assistants.
In December, the head of the religious police strongly criticised the labour ministry, claiming that saleswomen do not have a proper working environment and that some have been harassed.
The labour ministry had said the decision to employ women at lingerie shops should create some 44,000 jobs for Saudi women, among whom unemployment is more than 30 percent, according to official figures.
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