Wake Up
Doctors and government health officials should set limits, as they do for alcohol, on the amount of time children spend watching screens – and under-threes should be kept away from the television altogether, according to a paper in an influential medical journal.
For more on this story, visit: Ban under-threes from watching television, says study | Society | The Guardian.
Join the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK) and walk in the Cook & Care Walk-a-thon this Sunday, October 14, 2012.
This is the 16th year this fundraiser has helped DESK continue it’s mission to feed the hungry in Greater New Haven.
October 14, 2012
1pm registration
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I love Columbus Day. Each year I recall the simple song I learned as a child about the man who “discovered” America. I still recall the innocent boy whose imagination was taken by the story of adventure and discovery.
In fourteen hundred and ninety two Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
On Columbus Day, I reflect on the facts of that fateful discovery. Hispaniola at the time of Columbus’ arrival was home to as many as 300,000 people. On seeing the Arawak people Columbus wrote in his journal, “At daybreak great multitudes of men came to the shore, all young and of fine shapes, and very handsome. Their eyes are large and very beautiful.” In the same entry he wrote, “It appears to me, that the people are ingenious, and would be good servants and I am of opinion that they would very readily become Christians, as they appear to have no religion.” Columbus kidnapped up to 25 people, although only 7 or 8 survived the journey back to Spain. By 1496 it is estimated that one third of the population had been killed or taken as slaves. In 1592 fewer than 200 Indigenous people remained. By 1555, none survived.
I realize every lie and distortion i hold of my country began in that classroom all those years ago
For more on this story, visit: Once Columbus | Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
Just like the rest of us, creatives like Milton Glaser, Louis C.K. and Ray Bradbury struggle when going through their process. No really, we have proof.
In a sequel of sorts, we’ve assembled videos from musicians, stand-up comedians, writers, and others to help give us a look inside the inner-workings of some of the world’s most talented creatives.
Jazz Pianist Bill Evans strips away the glamor of creative work and emphasizes the need to have a love for the nitty-gritty. This clip is from the 1966 film The Universal Mind of Bill Evans.And lots more here: 10 (More) Amazing Videos About the Creative Process :: Articles :: 99U.
New York – A samoyed-husky mix, Zander, missed his owner John Dolan who was hospitalized for a skin condition so much that he tracked his scent over a distance of two miles from Bay Shore in New York to a hospital two miles away.
For more on this story, visit: Loyal dog Zander the husky tracks owner John Dolan to hospital.
In 1972, New Orleans native Herman Joshua Wallace b. 1941 was serving a 25-year sentence for bank robbery when he was accused of murdering an Angola Prison guard and thrown into solitary confinement. Many believed him wrongfully convicted. Appeals were made but Herman remained in jail and—to increasingly widespread outrage—in solitary. Years passed with one day much like the next.
Then in 2001, Herman received a perspective-shifting letter from a Jackie Sumell, a young art student, who posed the provocative question: “What kind of house does a man who has lived in a six-foot-by-nince-foot cell for over 30 years dream of?” Thus began an inspired creative dialogue, unfolding over hundreds of letters and phone calls and yielding a multi-faceted collaborative project that includes the exhibition “The House That Herman Built.”
For more on this story, visit: swissmiss.
With 46 million people living in poverty, why are the presidential candidates so quiet on issues affecting the poor?
Despite persistent poverty across the US, President Barack Obama, and his republican challenger, Mitt Romney, rarely mention the country’s most vulnerable. Why are the poor being ignored?
| “They are certainly not addressing it in the campaign, Obama may return to some of these issues after the elections – assuming he is re-elected – but even then we expect to see a grand bargain out of Obama in the lame duck period. And that is not necessarily going to help seniors … so Obama is better than Mitt, but neither one of them are addressing it in the campaign. “
– Marcy Wheeler, investigative blogger |
And while the economy will be the main focus of the first presidential debate on Wednesday, so far, the country’s poor have been left out of the conversation.
That is despite the more than 46 million people who now live below the poverty line. And tens of millions more are at risk, as median incomes continue to decline.
For more on this story, visit: Ignoring America’s poor – Inside Story: US 2012 – Al Jazeera English.
The following information was given to the Mayor’s Office by Abner Oakes, Chairman of the Hamden Veteran’s Commission.
“On Sunday, Jan. 28, 1973, Connecticut’s First Freedom Tree was dedicated honoring America’s POW and MIAs. At 7 p.m. that Saturday the cease fire was officially declared. There were Connecticut parents in attendance who had just been advised that their son was now declared a P.O.W.
“The park at the corner of Dixwell and Whitney Avenues was chosen for the location by Mayor William Adams. Members of Hamden’s Junior Woman’s Club led by President Linda Carocari, Lyndell Betzner and Cynthia Oakes worked with Voices in Vital America to distribute over 15,000 POW/MIA bracelets with the help of local school children.”
For more on this story, visit: New Freedom Tree planted at Freedom Park – News – Post-Chronicle.
Today, World Habitat Day, is a day to recognize the basic need for adequate shelter in a world where it is lacking for so many — a day for grassroots action, starting in your community. As we reflect on the state of towns and cities everywhere and the right of everyone to decent housing, I challenge you to reflect on the actions that you can take. In your own community, in communities around the globe and in places such as Haiti that so desperately need our assistance. I believe, as does Habitat, in the idea of many homes, one community. The act of building, of renovating, of coming together cements a bond not easily undone. When we bring together available resources, take decisive action and advocate for lasting change, we build the kind of stability, that Haiti — and we — need.
For more on this story, visit: Jimmy Carter: World Habitat Day: A Day to Recognize the Basic Need for Shelter.
There’s a groundswell for rooting the money out of politics, as Americans come to see that this is the one reform that enables all other reforms. Two polls released in the last few days report large majorities – as many as eight in ten – are in favor of clamping down on the amount of money that corporations, the super-rich, and those shadowyoutside groups are pouring into the campaigns. It’s up to all of us to put a sign on every lawn and stoop in the land: “Democracy is not for sale.”
For more on this story, visit: Mitt Tells the Truth | Common Dreams.
If you sleep in too long, it starts donating your cash to
politicians you hate.
Switzerland has everything you need to relax: plenty of snow, beautiful winter hiking trails, stunning Alpine panoramas and no end of comfort. You can completely forget about time here — whether you are enjoying a fondue in a ski hut, making a descent on one of our superb ski slopes or receiving a massage at a wellness hotel. For more information visit: MySwitzerland.com/winter
For more on this story, visit: Switzerland – Winter spot “Clocks” – YouTube.
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By Mattea Kramer
A Guide to the Presidential Debates You Won’t Hear
So here’s a brief guide to what you won’t hear this Wednesday or in the other presidential and vice-presidential debates later in the month. Think of these as five hard truths that will determine the future of this country.
2. Taxes are at their lowest point in more than half a century, preventing investment in and the maintenance of America’s most basic resources
3. Neither the status quo nor a voucher system will protect Medicare (or any other kind of health care) in the long run
4. The U.S. military is outrageously expensive and yet poorly tailored to the actual threats to U.S. national security
5. The U.S. education system is what made this country prosperous in the twentieth century — but no longer
1. Immediate deficit reduction will wipe out any hope of economic recovery
For more on this story, visit: ZCommunications | Tough Talk for America by Mattea Kramer | ZNet Article.
With less than 40 days to go before the 2012 presidential election, poet and activist Alice Walker reads her new poem, “Democratic Womanism,” and discusses her thoughts on President Obama’s legacy, including his use of drone strikes. “You ask me why I smile when you tell me you intend in the coming national elections to hold your nose and vote for the lesser of two evils,” reads Walker. “There are more than two evils out there, is one reason I smile.”
For more on this story, visit: “Democratic Womanism”: Poet and Activist Alice Walker on Women Rising, Obama, and the 2012 Election | Common Dreams.
ed: I love this bit
… Since my stroke, I walk very slowly. I saw a sign that night that said, next restroom: two hundred and eighty miles. The registration desk was on the eighth floor. You have to wait ten minutes for an elevator just to go up and register! That night some of the women were taking me back to my room and I said, For God’s sake, where’s the men’s room? We couldn’t find one. One of the girls said, There’s a potted palm over there, why don’t you go use it? So I went over. Nobody saw me. At least I don’t think so.
For more on Bradbury’s thoughts on Mailer and Vonnegut and receiving the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, visit: Paris Review – The Art of Fiction No. 203, Ray Bradbury.
Paid for by the Jewish Council on Education and Research
ed note:
Benjamin Franklin wrote in”On the Freedom of the Press”
This Nurse of Arts, and Freedom’s Fence,
To chain, is Treason against Sense:
And Liberty, thy thousand Tongues
None silence who design no Wrongs;
For those who use the Gag’s Restraint,
First Rob, before they stop Complaint.
Documents show US policy puts media outlet in same legal category as violent terrorist groups
by Common Dreams staff
Military documents (pdf) obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and posted online by Wikileaks show that the US government has designated the whistleblower website and its founder Julian Assange as “enemies of the state”—the same legal category as Al Qaeda and other foreign military adversaries.
For more on this story, visit: US Designates Wikileaks “Enemy of the State” | Common Dreams.
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