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MEMORIAL: Martin Luther King & Social Justice

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“Power, properly understood, is the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political, or economic changes. In this sense power is not only desirable but necessary in order to implement the demands of love and justice. One of the greatest problems of history is that the concepts of love and power are usually contrasted as polar opposites. Love is identified with a resignation of power and power with a denial of love. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic.  Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Tip of the Hat to Robert Gass.

Phi Beta Iota: History Channel program is phenomenal.  It has pointed out that television–and the understanding of the movement that they had a chance every day to get 90 seconds on every television set in America–was vital to the limited success they enjoyed.  And then he was assassinated.  Today Wikileaks,  Twitter, and SMS are taking on roles similar to that of television–but there is no single leader who can be assassinated.  The times, they are a-changing.

See Also:

Review: An Act of State–The Execution of Martin Luther King, New and Updated Edition

Review: Public Philosophy–Essays on Morality in Politics

Reference: A World That Works for All

Reference: Our Choice–Changing the Game

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Conscious, Evolutionary, Integral Activism & Goodness

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Dialog for Truth & Reconciliation

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Raw Story: Nader Says Progressive-Liberatarian Alliance the Most Exciting New Political Dynamic in USA

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Ralph Nader Raw Story

Prepare for the rise of libertarian progressives.

That was the message earlier in the week from trends analyst Gerald Celente, who predicted that the rapid acceleration of wealth into the coffers of the ultra-rich would drive a global youth resistance movement in 2011 and reformat long-held political boundaries.

And then there were two.

Longtime American politics gadfly Ralph Nader, a man of many ideas almost diametrically opposed by most libertarian conservatives, said Wednesday that he sees a coming convergence of liberals, progressives and libertarian conservatives in the wake of a worsening financial crisis and dogged partisanship that's put the government into gridlock.

Speaking to Fox Business's libertarian host Judge Napolitano, Nader called these shifting alliances “the most exciting new political dynamic” in the US today.

Read long article…

Watch video (also within long article)…

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Astonishing Facts: America’s Economy & Society

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22 STATISTICS SHOWING THE MIDDLE CLASS DYING

* 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.

* 61 percent of Americans “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.

* 66% of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.

* 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.

* A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.

* 24% of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.

* Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.

* Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.

* For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.

* In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.

* As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.

* The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.

* Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.

* In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.

* The top 1% of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.

* In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.

* More than 40% of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.

* For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.

* This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.

* Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.

* Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 – the highest rate in 20 years.

* The top 10% of Americans now earn around 50% of our national income.

Full Source Online….

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Event: 20-22 Jan Washington DC For the People Summit

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A year ago, on January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission opened the door to unlimited and often anonymous spending to influence our elections. We invite you to mark the anniversary by joining a call to action.

The FOR THE PEOPLE SUMMIT in Washington DC, Jan 20-22, 2011 will bring together many of the nation's leading policy experts, grassroots organizers, and netroots innovators to collaborate on immediate and long-term strategies to protect our elections and policy-making from manipulation by multi-national corporations whose immense wealth is drowning out the voices of We the People.

Events will include:

Confirmed participants include Lawrence Lessig of Fix Congress First, Marge Baker of People for the American Way, John Bonifaz of Free Speech for People, David Cobb of Move to Amend, Lisa Graves of Center for Media and Democracy, Michael Ostrolenk of Transpartisan Center, Heather Booth formerly of Americans for Financial Reform, Phil Aroneanu of 350.org, Dean Baker of Center for Economic and Policy Research, Judith Freeman of New Organizing Institute, Walt Roberts of Changing the Game, as well as representatives of the Sunlight Foundation, Common Cause, Public Citizen, Public Campaign, Alliance for Democracy, the Backbone Campaign, City Life Vida Urbana, the Coffee Party, the Institute for Policy Studies, and Voters for Peace.

Continue reading “Event: 20-22 Jan Washington DC For the People Summit”

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Event: 19 Jan, Santa Clara CA – WikiLeaks: Why it Matters. Why it Doesn’t? Daniel Ellsberg, Clay Shirky, Neville Roy Singham, Peter Thiel

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WikiLeaks: Why it Matters. Why it Doesn’t?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Speakers:
Daniel Ellsberg, Former US Military Analyst
Clay Shirky, Independent Internet Professional; Adjunct Professor, Interactive Telecommunications Program, New York University
Neville Roy Singham, Founder and Chairman, ThoughtWorks
Peter Thiel, President, Clarium Capital; Managing Partner, Founder's Fund

Moderator:
Paul Jay, CEO and Senior Editor, The Real News Network

Additional speakers TBA

A panel of leading thinkers explores WikiLeaks and its implications for access
to information, security, first amendment rights, innovation, and more.

Buffet dinner: 6:15 PM

Registration: 5:30 PM
Program: 7:00 PM

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Secrecy News Headlines

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**     TIGHTENING SECURITY IN THE “POST-WIKILEAKS” ERA

Phi Beta Iota: US Government (USG) has learned nothing since it took testimony in 1993 and then proceeded to ignore testimony from 1995 (Aspin-Brown), 1996 (Moynihan) through 1998 (various).  90% of what is classified should not be classified and should not be a”protected” at a cost of $15 billion a year to the taxpayer.  This is a classic example of the entire USG trying to do the wrong things righter, instead of enjoying a renaissance, doing the right things faster, better, cheaper.

**     SECURITY PRACTICES AT DOD FACILITIES REVIEWED

**     AIR FORCE SAP POLICY LIMITS CONGRESSIONAL CONTACTS