Category: Economic Justice

Boomers are Doomed. I know.

On By southwerkIn Economic Justice

004dBoomers are Doomed. I know.

Just face it. The nation would probably be better off if the Baby Boomers had stayed in the womb. And yes, I am one of them. We took a nation with a thriving middle class and made it into the current economic nightmare. They should make all of us put an asterisk on our tombstones and a little note at the bottom – Part of a Generation that looked after the individual and forgot humanity.

I look to my students and tell them they are the great hope of this nation. I tell them they bear the responsibility of fixing the failures of my generation.

I’m trying to build a future for this country, one student at a time.

And let me tell you another thing – if there was ever an entitlement generation, it was mine not this one. We went to college when it was virtually free and absorbed a host of government benefits virtually all of which we deny this generation. And if this clearly hypocritical and nation damaging behavior wasn’t enough, we shower disdain and contempt on our young people.

We were always looking to find ourselves, the latest self help books, cultish belief systems, fashionable get rich quick schemes, self interest politics and a fascination with style over substance.

I’ll write about this more later. I’ve too much anger for one post and I want to think about it some more. There are a number of things that were admirable about my generation and it would not be fair to ignore those.

James Pilant

Baby Boomers retirement: Why Boomers are doomed.

“No one wants to talk about just how unprepared the Baby Boomer generation is for the years when they will no longer be able to work,” Oppenheimer’s John Stoltzfus told Business Insider in a recent interview.

Now he’s laying out reasoning. Here’s Stoltzfus’ 11 reasons to be concerned about this aging demographic:

  1. The wholesale demise or dismantling of traditional defined benefit pension programs by corporations looking to cut expenses and liabilities that has occurred in the past 10 to 15 years.
  2. The widespread underuse of 401(k) plans (defined contribution plans) by eligible plan participants as well as those who qualify for but don’t enroll in 401(k) plans at all. We’d note that 401(k) plans often replace traditional pension plans when an employer closes the defined benefit plan but still wants to offer employees a retirement savings plan in the employment benefit menu.
  3. Potential for increasingly later age requirements ahead to get full Social Security benefits as Washington lawmakers work to preserve the program for Boomers and generations that follow.
  4. Reduced cost of living increases likely ahead for those receiving benefits in a pro-austerity environment.
  5. A pronounced and general ignorance by the general public of the importance of asset allocation and long-term planning in allocating money within 401(k) plans.
  6. The tendency for 401(k) participants to select low yielding nonfluctuating choices on 401(k) menus as a result of the tech bubble, the financial crisis of 2008, other past bubbles, along with prominent news items that accentuate the negatives of investing vs. the positives in a landscape of job insecurity.
  7. General lack of discipline and commitment to a personal investment program by many individuals either as a result of job insecurity or personal choice.
  8. Emphasis by too many individuals on DIY programs that focus mostly on fee containment and present the individual with programs heavy on brochures or website generalities and little access to the 1:1 or team capabilities available from experienced market and retirement professionals.
  9. Taking early distributions from 401(k) plans to meet nonemergency needs.
  10. Taking early distributions from 401(k) plans as the result of personal emergencies tied to job loss, health, and other unavoidable issues.
  11. Low interest rates in traditional savings vehicles and in much of fixed income product over the past five years that has compounded the likely problem ahead instead of compounding the money placed in them.

via Baby Boomers retirement: Why Boomers are doomed..

From around the web.

From the web site, Larry Gross Online.

http://larry5154.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/a-baby-boomer-thinking-about-his-kids-and-the-younger-generation/

’m a baby boomer and while I used to associate those two words with being young, I no longer can fool myself. Being a baby boomer now means I’m older.

Being older also means not understanding young people—at least not all the time. I think this is why I found this article on The Huffington Post sort of interesting. It gives five reasons why we, the boomers, don’t understand young people. Of course, there are more than five reasons but it’s a start.

You can click here to read the article, then, when you come back, I’ve got some comments on three of the five reasons why us boomers don’t understand young people. I’ll wait for you.

Fracking Job Numbers in Question

On By southwerkIn Economic Justice

oilderrick1000075461Fracking Job Numbers in Question

Well, how about this? The pro-fracking governor of Pennsylvania says that fracking has created 200,000 jobs but there is an analysis by a state newspaper indicating a number of 30,000 and that the number of these kinds of jobs is falling.

Who’s telling the truth? On one side we have an industry devoted to secrecy and non-disclosure on a scale not seen since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This sides also includes pro-natural gas groups and politicians who have benefitted from generous campaign contributions. On the other we have a state newspaper doing an analysis as part of its news gathering.

I’m going to go with the newspaper. The other guys will profit and advance based on their stance while the best the newspaper can do is get increased circulation. One side has more motive to lie.

What’s more, I have some experience with fracking as an issue. What I have read and seen is that fracking creates a lot of jobs during the initial stages of drilling but then the jobs move on to the next drilling sites and there is little permanent job creation.

Based on my knowledge, since the state has had much of the drilling done, those jobs are moving on while the wells and the problems remain.

I believe that fracking could have been done in an environmentally protective way that took care not to destroy water resources or endanger the stability of the earth’s crust. But since fracking was exempted from a host of environmental laws and has operated in the realm of secrecy, I don’t see them having much reason to act responsibly.

Is it not written: John 3:20: For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

James Pilant

Pennsylvania fracking-related jobs numbers questioned | Al Jazeera America

Facing a daunting re-election year, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has been touting his all-out support for natural gas drilling as a job creator in his state.

But economists and environmentalists are questioning his claim that the industry props up more than 200,000 Pennsylvania jobs. They say that the governor’s administration has greatly inflated the number and that it may be getting lower every day.

A new analysis by The Allentown Morning Call newspaper and published Monday indicates that growth in the industries associated with drilling in the Marcellus Shale — one of the country’s main areas for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — fell by 29 percent from 2010 to 2013. There are now just under 30,000 that can directly be linked to the Marcellus.

Industry supporters say that the decline is a temporary fluctuation and that ancillary jobs created and supported by shale gas development — including ones in trucking, engineering and construction — boost the number to more than 200,000.

But as Corbett continues to support natural gas development in his bid for re-election, those job numbers have come under more scrutiny. Activists and economists say that while there is no doubt natural gas has contributed to the state’s economy, it is likely the practice’s impact has been exaggerated, perhaps for political gain.

via Pennsylvania fracking-related jobs numbers questioned | Al Jazeera America.

From around the web.

From the web site, NCC Ecojustice Web Site.

http://ecojustice.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/fracking-jobs-what/

Supporters of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale have promised new drilling could create up to 100,000 jobs in Pennsylvania this year, but actual job creation appears to be falling well short.

According to a report last year by Penn State University’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Marcellus Shale drilling directly and indirectly created more than 29,000 jobs in Pennsylvania in 2008 and 48,000 jobs in 2009. The report, commissioned by the Marcellus Shale Gas Committee, predicted drilling operations would create at least 107,000 jobs this year.

Critics say those numbers are not borne out by reality. According to a report released last month by J.M. Barth & Associates, a New York-based research and consulting firm, the number of jobs in the oil and gas extraction industry has remained virtually flat in recent years despite increased investment in the Marcellus Shale.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that Pennsylvania’s mining and logging sector gained 2,500 jobs over the past three years, growing from 20,800 jobs in February 2007 to 23,300 jobs in February 2010.

“There’s a lot of wishful thinking out there,” said Jannette Barth, president of J.M. Barth & Associates. “They’re not [accurate] — or at least, they’re biased. They leave a lot of things out” (Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 9). – GN

From the web site, Frackorporation.

http://frackorporation.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/no-frack-class-in-hazleton/

Last month Marcellus Shale Drilling News (i.e. think Rush Limbaugh sans Cigar) broke the news with a screaming headline “Cabot to Teach Hazelton, PA 9th Graders How to Frack“.

On August 30, the Hazleton School Board delayed approval of the proposed course on Natural Gas Drilling until they learned more about it.   The proposed course was presented as being taught by volunteers from Junior Achievement and Cabot Oil & Gas would be paying for the materials.

A bit more drilling into the proposed course turned up a very heavily one-sided course curriculum. Read it for yourself – JA Careers in Energy – Guide for Volunteers and Teachers.

I learned tonight, the Hazleton School Board met last night (9/26/13), and said thanks by no thanks and voted down Cabot’s Fracking Class by a 6-1 vote.

Sources stated the board felt uncomfortable with a corporate designed and financed course.   They were especially uncomfortable with Session #7 which simulates a town meeting with carefully prepared profile cards and positions each “character” was to take.

I’m Proud of the Ukrainians!

On By southwerkIn Economic Justice

Ukraine protests Dec 1 2013_by_Gnatoush_005I’m Proud of the Ukrainians!

I think Paul Steven Stone has some good points here. I am also outraged at the very successful effort by legislatures all over the United States to limit the right to vote. It’s viciously, nakedly undemocratic, and is simply evil both in intent and effect. We all have a basic right as Americans to vote, and that should be something that can’t be taken away.

James Pilant

I Am a Ukrainian | Paul Steven Stone

How can you not stand up and cheer at what we’ve just witnessed in Eastern Europe? To see an entire populace rise up against injustice, autocracy and the armed lackeys of a corrupt police state reminds me of what real courage looks like, especially when it’s bolstered by the adrenaline of outrage and moral authority.

I couldn’t watch this impoverished proletariat fighting so valiantly — and risking so much — for their rights, their country and for the future of their children’s children without thinking about how far we Americans have drifted from our own revolutionary and democratic ideals. So far that we would allow George W. Bush to twice steal the presidency of the United States (see here.) staring impotently with our mouths open, too afraid of the consequences that might come from shouting out the truth and fighting for our rights. Too comfortable, in all likelihood, with our material possessions and modest success to risk any of it by standing up and shouting “Fraud! Thief! Liar!” as we should have done — as we have an obligation to do as legatees of our revolution and its democratic values!

And so we turned over in bed, having taken a sleeping pill to deal with any discomfiting after-effects of watching our country hijacked by these lackeys of disgruntled billionaires.

Yes, we’ve fallen so far from our American ideals that we would allow almost every state legislature controlled by Republicans to institute laws designed to deprive citizens of their voting rights in the name of preventing voting fraud. A fraud admittedly non-existent and clearly invoked as a fig leaf to conceal the pathetic conniving of a fastly-shrinking political minority.

via I Am a Ukrainian | Paul Steven Stone.

From around the web.

From the web site, European Public Affairs.

http://www.europeanpublicaffairs.eu/ukrainian-armageddon/

Branded extremists, radicals, criminals and foreign agents. This is how Ukraine’s bandits in power (or the so-called government) see protesters of Euromaidan. Hundreds of thousands of open-minded and freedom-seeking demonstrators, for whom dignity, human rights and liberty are not just plain words, are apparently terrorists. At least, this is how yesterday’s horrifying developments, claiming at least 20 innocent lives in Kyiv, were justified – as anti-terrorist operations. Clubs, tear gas, flash grenades and Molotov cocktails are again a reality after almost 3 weeks of a standstill in Ukraine’s capital.

 

What began as a protest against Ukrainian President Yanukovych’s decision not to sign an Association Agreement, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, with the EU in late 2013 has spiraled into much bigger demands. Seen as a pro-European uprising in the East, the latest dynamics highlight a much more complicated political scene. Current demonstrations represent a fight for democratic values, rule of law and a change of the country’s corrupt political system. In fact, the EU’s inaction and inability to broker a solution diminishes, to some extent, local support for the European Union. The absence of a decisive Western stance definitely harms the image of a flexible Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU. Coupled with expressions of concern that are not backed by real actions, this only irritates Ukrainians more .

From the web site, Euromaidan PR.

http://euromaidanpr.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/the-fish-stinks-from-the-head-but-it-is-cleaned-from-the-tail-the-ukraine-uprising-analysis-by-dr-ichak-kalderon-adizes/

I have been to Ukraine numerous times. Lectured there. Received honorary doctorates from their Universities. Published books and articles in Ukrainian. Worked with Ukrainian business executives and their managers. But in all my experience working worldwide, I have never heard of or come across such blatant, open, shameless, corruption as I have encountered in Ukraine.

Don’t misunderstand. I know there is a lot of corruption everywhere. Even in the United States. Even in my home city. If you want a license to build a house in Santa Barbara you need a permit, which might take a year or more before it is approved by the bureaucracy. So you hire a “middleman” who used to work at the department of urban planning and who knows the ropes. He is called an expeditor, and for a fee will make sure that your request for a license is granted in less than a year.

To me that is corruption… though everyone considers it a normal way of doing business.

There is corruption of course in every nation-state. You will find it in Israel, in India, in Brazil. Name any country and you will find traces of corruption. But Ukraine is a different story. It represents a paradigm shift in the magnitude and nature of corruption. A sizable jump to a different level of corruption that places it in a league all of its own.

Ukrainian President Ousted

On By southwerkIn Economic Justice

Ukrainian President Ousted

More than seventy people have been killed but the President of the Ukraine has been removed. That’s doesn’t seem very equitable and it is just another beginning in a series of political crises gripping a nation caught between the European Union and a Russia intent on re-establishing some elements of the vanquished Soviet Union.

James Pilant

Khmelnystskys Entry into Kiev
Khmelnystskys Entry into Kiev

Ukrainian parliament votes President Yanukovich out | Al Jazeera America

The Ukrainian parliament voted Saturday to dismiss embattled President Viktor Yanukovich and hold new elections on May 25.

The vote came hours after anti-government protesters seized Yanukovich’s office in the capital city of Kiev. He had insisted earlier in the day that he would not step down, even as his grip on power appeared to be rapidly crumbling. The latest developments followed two days of violence that turned central Kiev into a battle zone and left at least 77 people dead.

The military said it would not get involved in trying to stamp out the uprising, after protesters entered Yanukovich’s office compound in the capital.

The president’s residence outside the capital also appeared to have been abandoned. Local media said protesters had entered the sprawling grounds, but it was unclear whether they were inside the main building. Interfax, a Russian news agency, said some security guards were present.

Thousands of protesters on Kiev’s Independence Square celebrated just after the parliamentary vote was announced on Saturday. The protesters had been skeptical of a European Union-brokered accord under which the embattled leader agreed to give up powers, hold early elections by the end of the year and form a government of national unity.

via Ukrainian parliament votes President Yanukovich out | Al Jazeera America.

From around the web.

From the web site, Euromaidan PR.

http://euromaidanpr.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/dear-europeans/

Following the protests in the EU, I came to the conclusion that almost all of your protests were provoked by the same issue. Money. Europeans have always lack money. For money, they go to the streets; for money, they beat cars; and even a general expression of quiet dissatisfaction is also about money, and things connected with it. Apparently, it is now the main ‘European’ value.

And while people are dying in Ukraine, fighting against injustice itself, fighting for their simple dignity, in Europe dignity has been already forgotten. Not because Europeans don’t have it; they just don’t need it. They don’t use it. Dignity is gone.

So, dear European politicians, why do you think you have the right to teach us something? Thanks to the horror in Ukraine, we finally see what you’re worth.

Different people standing now on Maidan–the intelligentsia, small and medium businesses, the remnants of the Ukrainian middle class, students and villagers–who are impressing me the most. Young and old villagers–they die fighting for what? For justice and freedom. In the 21st century in the middle of Europe. For fucking justice and freedom. And it does not matter anymore who started all this, who is right and who is wrong and whether there is any sense in all what is going on. The Monster uses tanks against people, his troops are shooting girls with Kalashnikov rifles, and those villagers who were never interested in politics, they arrived in a strange city with their pitchforks and shovels to die here for some sort of ephemeral dignity and some theoretical freedom that Europe has long since forgotten. Tell me, are your European burghers able to do something like this?

We are expecting your sanctions for our monsters, but you do not want to do it. After all, your economy is in trouble, and the money of our oligarchs helps you not to die. And you, dear European politicians, you do not care that this money was stolen from Ukrainians, from me personally, as well.

 

My Heart is with the Ukrainians in the Street

On By southwerkIn Economic Justice

Ukraine protests Dec 1 2013_by_Gnatoush_005My Heart is with the Ukrainians in the Street

For the first time in my “goody two shoes” life, I want off the safe path. I wish I were there on the streets of Kiev, and not here, safe.

James Pilant

Medic: 70 protesters killed, 500 wounded in Kiev – Yahoo News

“The price of freedom is too high but Ukrainians are paying it,” said Viktor Danilyuk, a 30-year-old protester. “We have no choice, the government isn’t hearing us.”

via Medic: 70 protesters killed, 500 wounded in Kiev – Yahoo News.

From around the web.

From the web site, Cynthia Yildirim’s Web Blog.

http://wittymisfitsinc.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/kiev-ukraine-protest-2014-video-photos-links-news/

The protest is about the Ukraine governments recent deal with Russia, the people are against it. Also, recently a law was passed banning protest, so of course that must also be protested. The Ukrainian people are calling the new government under their president Viktor Yanukovich totalitarian. They are calling for the president to resign, and the deal to end with Russia, and for the EU deal to go through.  Viktor Yanukovich has not explained to the people why he entered the deal with Russia, yesterday he asked for a compromise of some type. The protest continue, and the police have surrounded the protesters on both sides, and the protesters have put up barricades of buses, and fires.  – CY

David Yamada Talks about Human Dignity

On By southwerkIn Economic Justice
David Yamada
David Yamada

David Yamada Talks about Human Dignity

I like to think of David Yamada as a business ethics authority. He comes at the workplace from a different angle but still his subject is business ethics.

He continually asks the questions: What is happening in the workplace. Is it ethical? Can we do better?

I share his concerns.

I recommend his web site and admire the energy of his regular posting.

James Pilant

http://newworkplace.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/making-human-dignity-the-centerpiece-of-american-employment-law-and-policy/

Making human dignity the centerpiece of American employment law and policy « Minding the Workplace

First, we must remain steadfast and unapologetic in calling for dignity in the workplace, even at the risk of being labeled foolish or naive. . . . In the face of likely criticism and even ridicule, we must make the case, without embarrassment, that workers should not have to check their dignity at the office or factory door.

Second, it is important to understand how we got to this place. The markets and management framework did not achieve dominance overnight or by accident. Its current, enduring incarnation has been the result of careful, patient, and intelligent intellectual spadework and political organizing. . . .

Third, just as the emergence of the markets and management framework was part of a broader political, social, and economic movement, the call for dignity at work cannot be made in a vacuum. . . . [D]enials of dignity occur throughout society, and therefore call for connected rather than atomized responses.

Finally, we must work on crafting messages that persuade the general public and stakeholders in employment relations. . . . [W]e need to translate these ideas into messages that reach people in legislatures, courts, administrative agencies, union halls, board rooms, and the media. This will not be easy, but at stake is nothing less than the well-being of millions of people who work for a living and those who depend on them.

via Making human dignity the centerpiece of American employment law and policy « Minding the Workplace.

From around the web.

From the web site, Workspace Practices.

http://cvakuffo.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/meet-professor-david-yamada-suffolk-university-law-school-professor-and-host-of-the-minding-the-workplace-blog-from-the-new-workplace-institute/

If you haven’t heard of David Yamada, professor at Suffolk University School of Law, chances are you will some time soon. In addition to his work as a legal professor, he is also the director of the New Workplace Institute, which has a WordPress blog of the same name. Through the institute Professor Yamada raises public and institutional awareness about workplace bullying.

The Workplace Bullying Institute defines bullying as repeated, health-harming mistreatment of the bully’s target. This mistreatment can include verbal abuse; offensive behavior, verbal or non-verbal, that is threatening, humiliating or intimidating; work sabotage which prevents work from being accomplished.

Bullying has particular resonance in Massachusetts, where in 2010 a high-profile case of teenage bullying led 15-year-old Phoebe Prince to commit suicide after sustained harassment by classmates at her high school with little if any intervention by school authorities.

While we know the perils of high school with its particular brand of tormentors, there is another kind — the bully who grew up and moved on from high school and is now a workplace bully. It is this kind of bully that Yamada’s work seeks to defang.

When he first started out, Yamada thought he wanted to practice public-interest law, although he wasn’t quite sure what that involved.  After receiving his JD from New York University School of Law he practiced at the New York Attorney General’s Office and the Legal Aid Society of New York City.

 

Occupy Wall Street Matters

On By southwerkIn Economic Justice

Occupy Wall Street Matters.

Look at the graph!

James Pilant

occupy wall street change in discussion

The Cruelty of Racial Prejudice

On By southwerkIn Economic Justice1 Comment
Portrait of a young Choctaw woman her body tur...
Portrait of a young Choctaw woman her body turned to the left, her head turned back to the front, and her gaze directed toward the viewer. She wears a pair of earrings and an off-the-shoulder garment made of animal skin. Her long dark hair is parted in the middle and falls down over her back, Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some of my Hispanic students have commented at one time or another about the problems of having lived in nations (or having relatives in those nations) where there is a mainly Spanish descended ruling class, a more middle group of Spanish/indigenous mix bloods and the indigenous peoples. This is confirmation of what they have told me. Being on the lowest rung makes life difficult and conveys a sense of powerlessness.

I’ll let the article speak for itself.

James Pilant

Indigenous Woman Gives Birth On Hospital Lawn In Mexico After Doctors Denied Her Care

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/09/woman-gives-birth-on-hosp_n_4073416.html

An indigenous woman squats in pain after giving birth, her newborn still bound by the umbilical cord and lying on the ground. It\’s a photograph that horrified Mexicans because of where it took place: the lawn outside a medical clinic where the woman had been denied help, and it struck a nerve in a country where inequity is still pervasive.

The government of the southern state of Oaxaca announced Wednesday that it has suspended the health center\’s director, Dr. Adrian Cruz, while officials conduct state and federal investigations into the Oct. 2 incident.

The mother, Irma Lopez, 29, told The Associated Press that she and her husband were turned away from the health center by a nurse who said she was only eight months pregnant and \”still not ready\” to deliver.

The nurse told her to go outside and walk, and said a doctor could check her in the morning, Lopez said. But an hour and a half later, her water broke, and Lopez gave birth to a son, her third child, while grabbing the wall of a house next to the clinic.

\”I didn\’t want to deliver like this. It was so ugly and with so much pain,\” she said, adding she was alone for the birth because her husband was trying to persuade the nurse to call for help.

A witness took the photo and gave%

via Indigenous Woman Gives Birth On Hospital Lawn In Mexico After Doctors Denied Her Care.

From around the web.

From the web site, Romanwolf’s Blog.

http://romanwolf.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/guatemala/

The film When The Mountain Trembles portrays the interaction between the

U.S. government and the elected Socialist Guatemalan government. In the

scene with the dinner between the president and the U.S. ambassador key

issues such as land reform, structural equality, and Unites States

corporations holding too much land and not paying taxes discussed by the

president and his wife. The Ambassador gets a very troubled look on his

face and states how the U.S is becoming troubled by their activities

and violently calls them “communists”. After the president tries to

explain how all their programs are and how he would feel different if he

spent more time in the country, the Ambassador essentially tells them

that if they don’t stop their reforms and penalties against U.S.

Corporation then there will be trouble. The scene then goes to display

how the U.S. set up a coup against the Guatemalan government in a scene

where a CIA agent says to a Guatemalan General “How Would you like for

us to help your country become a democracy?” The film then zips to

Arbenz surrendering office as the military coup moves in. This video

clearly demonstrates the reasons that provoked U.S. intervention,

nationalization of U.S. assets in the country, structural change that

infringes on U.S economic interests and political actions that make the

U.S. fear for “another Cuba” representing their wishes to deter

Soviet Communism in the Central and South America. …

Related articles

Marijuana Law Ridiculous

On By southwerkIn Economic Justice
Louisiana Supreme Court
Louisiana Supreme Court (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Marijuana Law Ridiculous

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/26/27_year_old_gets_20_years_for_half_an_ounce_of_pot_partner/

27-year old gets 20 years for half an ounce of pot

While Colorado and Washington have de-criminalized recreational use of marijuana and twenty states allow use for medical purposes, a Louisiana man was sentenced to twenty years in prison in New Orleans criminal court for possessing 15 grams, .529 of an ounce, of marijuana.

Corey Ladd, 27, had prior drug convictions and was sentenced September 4, 2013 as a “multiple offender to 20 years hard labor at the Department of Corrections.”

Marijuana use still remains a ticket to jail in most of the country and prohibition is enforced in a highly racially discriminatory manner.  A recent report of the ACLU, “The War on Marijuana in Black and White,” documents millions of arrests for marijuana and shows the “staggeringly disproportionate impact on African Americans.”

Nationwide, the latest numbers from the FBI report that over 762,000 arrests per year are for marijuana, almost exactly half of all drug arrests.

Even though blacks and whites use marijuana at similar rates, black people are 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana than white people.

Yes, but is this case an anomaly in Louisiana? Apparently not – from further down in the same article –

In Louisiana, a person can get up to six months in jail for first marijuana conviction, up to five years in prison for the second conviction and up to twenty years in prison for the third.   In fact, the Louisiana Supreme Court recently overturned a sentence of five years as too lenient for a fourth possession of marijuana and ordered the person sentenced to at least 13 years.

It’s time for a change. It’s time for some kind of sanity. Let’s start with tough sentences for people who hurt other people and gentler sentences for those who do not harm others.

Is this a business ethics issue? Yes, it ties in with the issues of private prisons and, in particular, the issue of policing for profit, the nauseating practice of police confiscating property often under the threat of filing charges.

The war on drugs had failed. It has filed monumentally, catastrophically; it is a self inflicted scourge upon this nation.

When policies fail over and over again, isn’t it time to try something new?

It’s time. It’s time to build a better nation, a better place to live. And we can do that by cutting our ridiculous rates of imprisonment and building the schools, the roads, the universities, the monuments and all the paraphernalia of a great nation. Let’s do it now.

James Pilant

Now, if you have fantasies of marijuana being one of the four horseman of the apocalypse in America – watch the film below and have your beliefs confirmed –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54xWo7ITFbg

From around the web.

From the web site, The Weed Blog.

http://www.theweedblog.com/national-cancer-institute-cannabis-has-antitumor-capabilities-is-an-appetite-stimulant-and-painkiller/

In claims that are in vast contrast to those of the Drug Enforcement Administrationand other government entities, the government-funded National Cancer Institute has a report published on its website which proclaims several benefits of cannabis and cannabinoids, citing numerous scientific studies to back their claims. The page was updated last month.

The report starts by explaining what cannabinoids are;”Cannabinoids are a group of 21-carbon-containing terpenophenolic compounds produced uniquely by Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica species”, the report continues, “These plant-derived compounds may be referred to as phytocannabinoids. Although delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the primary psychoactive ingredient, other known compounds with biologic activity are cannabinol, cannabidiol (CBD), cannabichromene, cannabigerol, tetrahydrocannabivarin, and delta-8-THC. CBD, in particular, is thought to have significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity without the psychoactive effect (high) of delta-9-THC.”

From the web site, Marijuana Policy Project.

http://www.mpp.org/states/louisiana/

The Louisiana House took a big step forward May 29 when it voted 54-38 to approve a bill that would have reduced marijuana possession penalties for second and subsequent offenses. House Bill 103, sponsored by Rep. Austin J. Badon, Jr., would have also removed marijuana possession from the list of offenses that receive mandatory minimum sentences. The bill was approved 4-2 by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but unfortunately, despite the best efforts of Sen. J.P. Morrell, the bill was not debated on the floor of the Senate. Legislators adjourned for the year June 6.

Prior to this year, Louisiana legislators did not seem willing to consider reducing Louisiana’s draconian marijuana penalties whatsoever. HB 103 was a modest attempt at reform, but its surprising success could help Louisiana legislators see that reforming marijuana laws is good politics in addition to being good policy. Because HB 103 passed the House so late in the session, a supermajority was needed in the Senate to even bring the bill up for debate. We’re very hopeful that next year the legislature will take a serious look at excessive marijuana penalties.

From the web site, The Louisiana Weekly.

http://www.louisianaweekly.com/and-justice-for-all-reforming-marijuana-laws-in-louisiana/

Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the world and a
Department of Corrections with a budget of almost $700 million – almost
twice the budget for the entire LSU system. Yet we still have a high
rate of violent crime, which is not solved by the increased penalties we
impose on people who are not violent and pose no danger to society.  In
Louisiana, unfair three-strike laws have landed individuals in jail for
life without parole for simple marijuana possession. Someone with two
prior convictions, which can be for things as minor as calling a parole
office a day late, can send someone to prison forever for simply
possessing a small amount of marijuana for personal use.  Laws requiring
Mandatory minimum sentences generate disproportionately long sentences
and often tie judges’ hands in considering the individual circumstances
of a case. Meanwhile, nonviolent people who pose no danger to society
risk spending their lives in state prison.

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White Collar Job for 500 a week

On By southwerkIn Economic Justice

White Collar Job for 500 a week

At the Barricades with E! Writers | Jacobin

Nothing scrambles the conventional wisdom on contemporary class politics in the US like a white-collar strike. In our neoliberal era, we’re told that unions might have once been appropriate for the soot-faced and burly proletarians of the 1930s. But since most of those workers have long since disappeared, labor unions — the logic follows — are also no longer necessary.

But not all skilled (and deeply exploited) laborers go to work with a hardhat and a lunch pail. And just like their union brothers and sisters in warehouses and factory floors across the country, the struggle for real union representation is every bit as radicalizing.

Eliza Skinner has spent the past year writing jokes for the E! television show Fashion Police. Skinner pens about 200 jokes per episode (almost a full work week’s as far as ‘hours worked’), pitching them at a weekly meeting with the host, Joan Rivers, and the show’s producers. For this, she is paid roughly $500 a week.

What is unique about this arrangement, in comparison with Hollywood norms, is the intensity of the work (the 30-40 hours of work are usually compressed into 3 days), and the meagerness of the compensation. Fashion Police writers’ paychecks say: “Hours worked: 8” every week, regardless of the actual time spent on crafting their contributions to the show. This exploitation is especially galling because the tempo of TV production often requires marathon stretches on the writer’s part: as long as 17 hours in a row, in the case of awards specials. “8 hours. $500,” Skinner marvels. “To write a hit TV show–– one of the top rated shows on the network.”

At the Barricades with E! Writers | Jacobin

We live in a nation where airline pilots, adjunct professors and Hollywood writers make little more than the minimum wage. Is it a good idea? Does it constitute economic justice for these highly skilled professions? I’m sure a solid majority favors having airline pilots and a smaller majority, college professors. However, a good argument could be made that we can live without a good part of our television viewing. On the other hand, I do not deny that it is hard work and demands creativity and intelligence.

The owners here, have a number one show and pay their writers a small sum for working concentrated hours not even bothering to pay overtime, that’s pretty pathetic. Economic justice implies paying a fair wage. The economic value of their labor far outweighs the salary. 

What’s the business ethics here? What’s a fair salary? Is economic justice even a thought in Hollywood? Those are important questions. What the producers are getting is writers working for little more than an unskilled worker flipping burgers. The producers are also making large sums of money from the effort of the workers. So, the question boils down to this – Are you content to have businesses pay the least possible to get the most possible labor? Or Is there a fair salary based on the productivity of the workers?

James Pilant

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