Read the full article here

+++

One of my recent photos:

“I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower, you hung all your associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see—and I don’t.” (Georgia O’Keeffe)

“Corporate science puts profit before the public interest. Corporate science is often secretive, not peer-reviewed, laden with lobbying power, and driven by profit-seeking strategies.”
- Ralph Nader

By now, I’m guessing the vast majority of you have heard about movie star Angelina Jolie choosing to have a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer. As explained by the New York Times, “Ms. Jolie had a family history of cancer and tested positive for genetic flaws in the BRCA1 gene, which indicates an elevated risk for breast and ovarian cancer. Her doctor estimated that she had an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer.”

I’m gonna also guess that you’ve experienced the predictable spin—from scientific to sexist and beyond—this story inspired. To follow are two angles, in the name of context.

Read the full article here

+++

One of my recent photos:

Occupy Dance at the NYC Dance Parade

More new photos here

Billions of humans are hungry, industrial propagandists have corrupted our understanding (sic) of nutrition, and much of how we’re programmed to eat is rapidly killing the eco-system. What are we to do?

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in its infinite wisdom, suggests we eat insects and the corporate media jumps at the chance to publish articles with oh-so-clever titles like, “Some salt with your spider? U.N. says bugs good for you.”

Pardon me while I try to stop my brain from exploding.

Too…many…possible…angles…for…article…must…cover…it…all…

Read the full article here

+++

One of my recent photos:

Release Lynn Stewart

More new photos here

For a wide variety of reasons, I rarely write specifically about high profile mainstream news spectacles but the Cleveland kidnapping story contains so many socially relevant angles.

For example, while Ariel Castro is being charged with rape and kidnapping, Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty may also bring aggravated murder charges in connection with the pregnancies that were terminated by force.

Such charges, McGinty was quick to clarify, are punishable by death.

Read the full article here

+++

One of my recent photos:

End Gap Sweatshops!

More new activism photos here

Even more new activism photos here

Yet more new activism photos here

Quite often, I walk to Astoria Park, a green urban sanctuary on the banks of the mighty East River (which is not really a river, but a tidal strait that connects Upper New York Bay to the Long Island Sound, but don’t get me started). This usually involves me passing condos called “Pistilli Riverview East” in what used to be the yellowish-tan Eagle Electric factory.

Last week, I took notice of several sparrows nesting in the letters of the condo sign (see accompanying photo). This seemingly benign sight set me off on fanciful flight of reflection and recollection.

Read the full article here

+++

One of my recent photos:

Retired Philly Police Captain Ray Lewis (now a fellow occupier) at the NYC Cannabis Parade: May 4

More Cannabis Parade photos here

“Release Lynne Stewart” photos here

Read the full article here

+++

One of my recent photos:

May Day 2013

More May Day photos here

According to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, the estimated pre-1492 population of what is now called the United States ranges from 5 to 15 million. By the late 1800s, the number of indigenous people was down to 25,000. Such a holocaust is only possible if the long traditional of dehumanization is utilized as a shield of denial.

“There is a profound historical legacy in the U.S., going back to people like George Washington, for example, describing Indians as ‘wild beasts of the forest’ and ‘savage as the wolf,’” explains Ward Churchill.

Broken treaties (over 400 signed and every single one broken), innumerable massacres (from the deliberate genocide of Powhatans to the slaughter at Wounded Knee), forced marches (i.e. the Trail of Tears relocating the Cherokee Nation from Georgia to Oklahoma), and federally sanctioned dehumanization…the treatment of Native Americans reads like a hideous catalogue of crime.

Read the full article here

+++

One of my recent photos:

Anti-vivisection demo (April 26)

More anti-vivisection photos here

Puppy mill demo photos here

New non-activist photos here

Recently, while riding the Q101 bus during the morning rush hour, it was interesting and kinda fun to watch the bus driver interact with his regular passengers—but one exchange really stood out. A weary man, maybe mid-60s, labored his way up the steps and onto the bus.

The driver remarked with a chuckle: “Two more days.”

These simple words seemed to make the tired man—along with a few other worn out commuters—smile with hope.

You see, it was Wednesday and these folks were essentially wishing away 48 hours of their lives so they could have permission to do what they really wanted to do on the weekend.

Read the full article here

+++

One of my recent photos:

Greek Solidarity action in Astoria (April 21)

More new photos here

On April 16, 2013, the newspaper of record “broke” the “news” that the United States of America has a long and enduring record of supporting the use of torture. The New York Times article by Scott Shane, “U.S. Practiced Torture After 9/11, Nonpartisan Review Concludes,” opens:

“A nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation and detention programs in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks concludes that ‘it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture’ and that the nation’s highest officials bore ultimate responsibility for it.”

Read the full article here

+++

One of my recent photos:

De-Occupy Drones (rainy day activism)

More drone demo photos here

Seal hunt demo photos here

Carriage horse demo photos here

In 2010, I was part of a panel on animal rights (AR) at the Left Forum (LF). To the best of my knowledge, this was one of the first—if not, the first—AR panels ever presented at the typically speciesist LF.

Also to the best of my knowledge, no such panel appeared in 2011 or 2012 but this year—as the LF moves to a weekend in June—I was surprised to receive an invitation to appear on panel called “Animal Liberation and Social Justice.”

Read the full article here

+++

One of my recent photos:

#solitude

More new photos here

Even more new photos here