Martin Luther King Day - Do You Really Understand The Message?

Every year, I write about Martin Luther King Jr. on his day of recognition. I personally worry that the day has become a lot like President's Day. A day off for kids, great sales on cars and a lot of gestures that just scratch the surface of acknowledging his message.

Dr. King saw a world of possibilities while living in a world full of inequities. From segregation to the unspoken rules of the South, Dr. King was able to recognize the global impact of power structures. He was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi  as he was challenging the British colonization of India using passive resistance. That message of civil disobedience would inspire Dr. King. More importantly, Dr. King inspired our citizens to stand up to oppression, and change the values of a society that thought the color of your skin meant that you were inferior.

Tough questions seem to linger since then. Have we made gains since the March on Selma? Absolutely, however we still live in a nation of changing priorities. Inequalities can be found everywhere in our nation. Here are some examples: Food inequality for the poor is a large problem. Many of our poorest citizens live in "Food Deserts." They are denied access to quality food and live off processed foods sold in low quality convenience stores. Secondly, our nation has an economy based on minimum wages verses livable wages. This has lead to greater dependence of government services. The reliance of a economic system driven by a  minimum wage creates a stigma for millions who rely on help from the Federal Government. Over 100 million Americans receive some form of assistance from our government. Debt is another problem. The student loan crisis has created an atmosphere of indentured servitude. Over a trillion dollars in debt holding families hostage for most of their adult lives. Finally, a lottery system of care rules the land. If you are "lucky" enough to have excellent healthcare coverage, you will be fine. A catastrophic illness leads to bankruptcy and a slew of gofundme pages to help families provides for themselves.

In some ways, the ending of segregation has been replaced by a sophisticated system of wealth redistribution. Affluent suburbs often time surround mass populations of decay. Travel along the I90 corridor in Upstate New York and you will see drastic differences in services, schools, and opportunities. Similar corridors exist across this nation. The haves versus the have nots is distracted by an illusion of prosperity. The rich have created the greatest disparity among the other 99.5% of the population. Holding mass amounts of wealth, it seems there is nothing wrong with a system that distributes wealth in the manner we have become accustomed to in our country.

Some people believe huge gains have been made since the Civil Rights movements, yet they live in communities whereas the diversity of their school administrations and city government do not reflect the diverse populations that they serve. We somehow learned to peacefully coexist in this kind of environment. Civil Disobedience in the 21st Century? Hints of it, quickly dismissed on social media. It seems that the media controls dissent quite well.

What can we do to reinvigorate Dr. King's message. I have always said that Public Education is the key to change. Instead of achieving a goal of a common core of knowledge, we need to encourage a system of critical thinking, and the question of one's reality. Until then, Dr. King's dream will be just that, a dream.

The U.S. Food Supply - The New Jungle

Over one hundred years ago, Upton Sinclair wrote a book titled the Jungle. A pretty harsh look at the exploitation of labor in our food industry. People responded and began to care. Pretty soon, shortly after the book was released, changes to the safety of our food supply would be enacted. Quick and decisive, the changes were enacted so that ALL Americans had as safe food supply.

Today, our food supply is terrible. Due to economic stagnation, there are 2 classes of food supplies. A sort of "Caste" system. The poor and lower middle class will eat foods that are cheap, and loaded with toxins and additives the increase their risk of poor health. This is the largest part of our food supply that  improves the profits of corporations. The 2nd caste which is the affluent get organic rich foods that lower their chances of poor health. Free of antibiotics and chemicals, the upper middle class and rich live healthier lives thanks to profiteering.

What can we do about the inequities of our food supply? Legislation is meaningless for most consumers. We regulate the information labels and people have no problem consuming what is unhealthy. Compare the food labels from our country to foreign countries. We quickly learn there are a lot of unnatural ingredients in our food. In fact, those ingredients have links to cancer, and can impact our central nervous system. Even the food supply for our children can be linked to negatively impacting healthy childhood development. Yet massive amounts of healthy foods are consumed daily.

It seems education is not working. We know there are social injustices to our food supply. Healthy foods cost more. It would seem that our nation is fine with the inequities that exist in our food supply. It is okay, that people in the lower socioeconomic strata of our population has access to substandard food. Many people that live healthy, could care less that a healthy food budget is not attainable in our country for those less fortunate.

It would seem that some think that the market will correct itself because consumers will demand higher quality food. It simply is not true.  Profits matter. For example, High Fructose Corn Syrup is in everything. It is linked to an increase in Type II Diabetes. Yet, it is widely available, especially in poor communities. However, around the world, HFCS is not as common as the United States. Countries look at the other "bottom line" Pay nor or we all pay later. Increased health costs based on an inferior food supply are eventually passed along to the consumer, as in the taxpayer. In a sense, our model increases profits for the manufacturer by passing along the health care costs to working families. Those same families are already overburdened by stagnant wages, so the dependence on the food supply that is inferior increases. Compare the ingredients in a few common products by American companies to how they produce them abroad.

COKE
Candian Ingredients
carbonated water, sucrose, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine

US Ingredients
carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine

UK Ingredients
carbonated water, sugar, colour (caramel E150d), phosphoric acid, natural flavourings (including caffeine).

GATORADE
Canadian Ingredients
Water, sugar, dextrose, citric acid, natural and artificial flavours, salt, sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, gum arabic, color, ester gum

US Ingredients
Water, sucrose, citric acid, salt, sodium citrate, natural and artificial flavor, monopotassium phosphate, Sucralose, Acesulfame potassium, Red 40, Blue 1

UK Ingredients
Water, sucrose, dextrose, citric acid, electrolytes (sodium chloride, sodium citrate, potassium phosphate, magnesium carbonate), flavourings, antioxidant (ascorbic acid), modified starch, emulsifiers (gum arabic, sucrose acetate isobutyrate), colour (beta-carotene)

HEINZ KETCHUP
Canadian Ingredients
Tomato Paste made from fresh ripe tomatoes, Liquid Sugar, White Vinegar, Salt, Onion Powder and Spices.

US Ingredients
Tomato Concentrate, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Spice, Onion Powder, Natural Flavoring.

UK Ingredients
Spirit Vinegar, Sugar, Salt, Spice & Herb Extracts (contains Celery), Spice

RITZ CRACKERS
Canadian Ingredients
Enriched wheat flour, soybean oil , cheddar cheese (milk ingredients, bacterial culture, salt, microbial enzyme, calcium chloride, colour, lipase), sugar, salt, baking soda, malted barley flour, calcium phosphate, spices, ammonium bicarbonate, colour (contains tartrazine), protease, amylase.

US Ingredients
unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), whole grain wheat flour, soybean oil, sugar, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, leavening (calcium phosphate, and/or baking soda), salt, high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin.

UK Ingredients
Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oil, Sugar, Raising Agents (Ammonium and Sodium Bicarbonates, Disodium Diphosphate), Salt, Glucose Syrup, barley Malt Flour.

We are talking pennies a day to change the food supply. Unfortunately, pennies add up when you are a country of 330 million people. The board rooms across our country will not change, until we demand better food quality for all citizens. Upton Sinclair wrote the Jungle in a time when most of our citizens were economic on the same strata. Change was easy back then. Unfortunately, we live in a different country whereas the marginalized citizens do not matter anymore. Let's hope we can change that scenario, along with our food supply.

The Truth About President Obama And Gun Control

Gun owners. Before you read this article, I have one word of advice. Relax. Your second amendment rights are still secure. However, I would be nervous as a gun owner. Why? If you read the posts and magazine articles, President Obama is coming for your guns. Nothing is further from the truth. Actually, President Obama is doing what he is best at during his tenure as President, he is being pragmatic with his approach to reducing gun violence.

What no one is telling you is that 100.000 people have been killed by guns in our nation this decade. Remember those police officers, mass shootings, domestic violence etc. Guns got in the wrong hands of the people who should not have them. Many times, people with mental health issues can get a gun when they should not be able to get a gun, and unsuspecting innocent people are killed. Not that complicated when you think about it.

So, I am going to provide you a list of the "scary" executive orders that the President enacted into law. His approach was reasonable, and well within the means of his executive powers. Carefully read them over. His approach is very similar to his approach to everything he has done successfully over the past 8 years. He looks at systemic problems and tries to change them. This is why we have seen huge gains in insurance coverage. The same can be said for the large drop in teen pregnancies, dependency on foreign oil etc. President Obama takes a very pragmatic approach and tries to change the culture of failed approaches that never solve a problem. Here is the list to prove my point regarding gun violence. Compare it to what you have "heard" online or in the news. This President is very good at looking at things from a much wider lens than we give him credit for.

Gun Violence Reduction Executive Actions:
1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

2016 - The Interesting Scenarios Of Trump - Clinton - Cosby

2016 will make for an interesting year if Donald Trump, Bill Cosby, and Hillary Clinton's worlds collide in popular media. All 3 provide for interesting contrasts that will cause our country to confront the hypocrisy of being loyal to political ideologies and parties.

Here is where things could get messy. The arrest of Bill Cosby at the end of 2015  has the potential to divide the African-American community over Trump and Clinton. The arrest of Cosby demonstrates how whites still live in a power vacuum. His arrest will be challenged by some including Trump as a stark contrast to Bill Clinton getting a pass for his behaviors that were equally as troublesome.  Hillary may have to face her own political demons regarding how she can forgive a person accused over 20 times of sexually inappropriate behaviors without any consequence.

The greater challenge may be the 2 party system. Trump has disrupted the Republican Party and the trial of Cosby may provided a challenge for the Democratic Party. For years, the support of women's rights in the Democratic Party has given some in power a political pass for their behavior. Trump is surely going to challenge conventional wisdom of the party elite by using the abandonment of Cosby by the party as a prime example of their hypocrisy.

The greater challenge for both parties may come from the debates themselves. People are increasingly choosing third parties or no party at all. Millennial voters are growing increasing less allegiant to a 2 party system, instead preferring a parliamentary mentality that many ideas can coexist without political parties gridlocking singular issues. 2016 will be an interesting year and Trump, Clinton, and Cosby will provide the backdrop for many interesting conversations.