time2

time2, a photo by Davidhg on Flickr.

Here is another one....

time magazine in the U.S. Vs the world

time, a photo by Davidhg on Flickr.

This is just a small sample of how the covers of Time magazine differs in the U.S. and the rest of the world. They chose to talk about anxiety instead of perhaps the most important story of the week. Time gives the Americans to indulge in self absorption rather than allow us to contemplate important world events.

Does anyone still wonder why my images do not sell in American media?

Photojournalism critiques

bestbuy7, a photo by Davidhg on Flickr.

I wonder if the policeman is spraying shoppers having a sleep over, or if he is spraying the homeless. Notice how casual the policeman is about his spraying, like he does this everyday.

GMO Crop Bill in Oregon: Save Organic Farming

SAVE OUR FOOD!  Allow the community to own the seeds.  When consumers started consuming GMO there has been an increase in health problem.  Of couse biotech companies say that the consumers should not be concerned.

Monsanto´s Patents: A List of seed monopolies

Here is a link for a list of Monsanto's PatentsMonsanto's Patents from GreenPeace a pdf file

Related Articles:

The World According to Monsanto:  Video
Join Farmers - vs - Monsanto:  Petition
The Genetic Battle - Video
Monsanto to get immunity from the law:  video
Truth:  Monsanto Corn Seeds:  Video
U.S. against Europe over Monsanto Crops
Explaining GMO and Roundup - Video
What is a GMO? - Video
Common GMO Food Products -  Article
Brands That Have GMO Ingredients - Article
How Can I avoid GMO Products? - Article and Product List
The Story About GM Seeds
Our Food System and GM SeedsLabeling of GMO Food Products sign the petition
Bad Seed - the Dangerous Truth About Our Food (Video)
Fake Foods Help Yourself with GM Treats!  (Video)
GM Food Brands
GMO Agent Orange Soy Backed by USDA

The World According to Monsanto: GMO's and their History

I post these as a reminder to YOU for your health and our Nation and our world.
This is a great video about Monsanto and their History and what they are doing and did to the people of this world.  These issues have cost them billions in lawsuits and has caused hundreds of deaths.

Through the lens: Downsizing of Photojournalism

To those who would like to support the art of photojournalism:

Through the lens: Downsizing of Photojournalism

Explaining GMO and Roundup: Video

This is a detailed hour long video explaining GMO and Roundup and their effects on your health. By Doctor Stephanie Seneff A senior research scientist at MIT The video covers more specifically Roundup's active ingredient glyphosate, as devastating—possibly "the most important factor in the development of multiple chronic diseases and conditions that have become prevalent in Westernized societies. "That's right. The herbicide sprayed on most of the world's genetically engineered crops—and which gets soaked into the food portion—is now linked to "autism ... gastrointestinal issues such as inflammatory bowel disease, chronic diarrhea, colitis and Crohn's disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease, depression, cancer, cachexia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and ALS, among others."

Solar Geoengineering? Fancy title for Destruction

7 June 2013

There is a lot of talk lately about chemtrails, geoengineering, climate control, aluminum in our air, breathing toxics, atmospheric science experiments, hurricanes, sun damage, agricultural damage, and more buzz words regarding our atmosphere and the negative effects on our planet.  To become familiar with the realities of what is being said, please view the video posted below and pass it around to as many people as you can.  As long as we sit around and do nothing about the surge of corruption occurring around us by our governments, corporations and appointed leaders they will continue to move forward doing what they will leading the citizens like horses to the empty river.

As in the past of our civilization, greed has taken control and is revered higher than the lives of human beings, our ecosystem, nature and animals.  This time, they are taking their research into our atmosphere and this time the "trickle down theory" really does work.  Chemicals are placed into the air and the chemicals trickle down onto our planet, covering the leaves of the trees, dropping into our clean rivers and finding their way into the lungs of our children and grandparents.

The mainstream media says absolutely nothing about this and  other realities that effects the very lives and health of global citizens.  Do these scientists and political leaders know of a safe place to reside without ingesting the poisons of the air and food?  Surely, they must not want their own children and grandchildren to become victims of these poisons.

This video has clips of scientists talking of their research on camera at conventions and the unknown or possible results.  As most of us, we do not have lots of time to fight, research and find where the money is coming from and who benefits from these programs.  But what we can do is pass the information around in spite of the mainstream media, build petitions, and boycott where ever we can.

Blogger's stats for this blog tells me that I have over 28,000 views each month.  I am asking you to press forward in the area's that hit your button and pass the information around to multiply the action.  If you have comments, post them, share on Facebook, Twitter, your groups in LinkedIn.  Find the petitions and post them here so we can sign.  One cannot take these fights alone it takes a tribe.

WalMart - Keeping Families in Poverty

3 June 2013

WalMart hires more people in the United States than any other company.  They recruit three times the number of people than the U.S. military does each year.  Yet, the majority of their employees are families with children who live below the poverty line.  WalMart promotes to buy American but most of their goods are manufactured outside of the United States in sweatshops.

Walmart has 1.4 million employees in the U.S. and a total of 2.1 million worldwide. Females make up 70% of Walmart's work force, many of whom are head of households.  The average full time sales associate take home pay is under $15,576 per year. However, most of Walmart's employees are part time with an average take home pay of $250.00 per week or 8.81 per hour.  Walmart's associates earn 28 percent less, on average, than employees at other large retail stores.   In contrast, the average pay for store managers is $50,000 to $170,000 per year.  CEO Mike Duke received $18.7 million in total compensation or he makes more money in one hour than most of his employees make in one year. The Walton family controls over 48% of the stock and together they are worth an excess of $102 billion.

Distribution of Working Poor by Industry
Retail is Green (30%) and Services is purple (39%)
In retail trade, 12% of all workers were poor and 22% lived below 150% of poverty.Walmart's 1.4 million employees help create these numbers.
Department of Labor and Statistics (*more numbers)

 This pay scale places employees with families under the poverty line that qualifies the children for free lunches.  One-third of the employees work under 28 hours and do not qualify for benefits.  The lower paid working families are called the "working poor" and the federal government subsides many of these families and children.

Let's put this in perspective:
Wal-Mart hires 550,000 people each year
They are the largest employeer outside of the Federal Government;  around 2 million employees
America has been declining in wealth and the disparity is getting wider (The wealthiest 20% own 72%; the Poorest 20% only 3%) Apr 2013
More and more people in America are on food stamps than ever before 47.8 million (mar 2013)
More and more American's are making non-sustainable/livable wages
WalMart makes $34, 880 dollars in profit every minute
Low wages cost the taxpayers $900,000 each year for Walmart's low wages at one WalMart Super Center in Wisconson. ( Huffington Post May 2013)
California paid $86 million a year on WalMart employees in benefit programs (health and public assistance to 44,000 employees)
One Store of 200 employees may result in a cost of $420,750 per year - $2,103 per employee for free and reduced lunch programs, Section 8 housing, federal tax credits, Title 1 expenses, federal health care costs, children's health insurance programs (S-CHIP), low income energy assistance. (Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and Workforce)

Walmart has a high turnover rate; about 70% of the employees leave within the first year.  The reasons they leave is for lack of job recognition and inadequate pay.  Studies show that Walmart promoted fewer women than men and women dominate the lowest paying jobs at Walmart and that men earned $5,200 more for the same jobs as the women. Although, women make up 70% of the workforce, they only occupy less than one third of its store management.

Our government is broke and they try to squeeze as much taxes from the citizens as they can for just about everything.  Yet, the corporations can get away with hiding money offshore, using loopholes that saves them millions if not billions in taxes to the U.S. Closes down the factories with tax incentives to open new production overseas and widening the gap for job creation in the U.S.  The last thing we need is to drain our economy with social programs for people who work and are willing to work full time.

Most of the employees at Walmart are willing to work more hours, but to save money, Walmart's average weekly hours is 28.  But that is not all folks!

Walmart's new Health Plan January 2013
A memo was leaked to the NY Times stating that Walmart workers are "sicker than the national population" and tended to overuse emergency rooms.  The memo made recommendations to reduce health care spending by discouraging unhealthy people from working at Walmart requiring all jobs to involve some physical activity.  To hire more part time workers, to reduce 401K contributions and to put health clinics in Walmart stores.  With these recommendations Walmart could save over $1 billion in health care costs by 2011.  With 1.5 million employees working in the U.S. at Walmart part time not receiving health benefits, then who picks up the tab?

The Benies:
The average wait for full time workers to qualify for benefits is six months, compared to the retail average of 2.6 months.  Walmart recently cut their contributions to the medical savings plan by 50%.  The deductible for their plan is $1,750 before any assistance kicks in.  The monthly premium went up from $2 to $11 dollars per pay check at a $60.00 minimum per month.

A new policy took place in January 2013 as a way to cut costs and shift the cost onto the federal government taking advantage of Obamacare.
Walmart has the right to eliminate health care coverage for workers if their average workweek dips below 30 hours, which happens with regularity and at the direction of the company managers.   The response? "Walmart made a business decision" replied company spokesman David Tovar.  This new policy is a step back in time from the expansion in their health care coverage seven years ago.  The problem is that Walmart is known to not have anyone work over 30 hours a week and they have been doing that for years.

Walmart's network family plan is $322.60 bi-weekly with a $800 annual deductible, $500 health care credit and $4,000 out of pocket medical expenses could cast over $12,000 a year.  The average full time Walmart employee makes $20,000 a year and cannot afford the health benefit.

In the last quarter of 2012 it is reported they made $67,35 billion with a $17.2 billion profit.   This is enough profit to settle the Walmart's infamous employment practices and stop them from robbing America by using our social system and taxes to help keep their employees alive.

*Of those who do not work full-time, about half state that they are working part time because they cannot find full-time work. Thus the working poor face the problem of involuntarily working part time to a greater extent than other workers. Approximately 20% of the working poor are employed involuntarily part-time.  

Although some people believe that the problem of working poverty would be solved by providing full-time year-round work, this does not appear to be true. Most (52%) of the working poor would not b e able to work their way out of poverty even if they held full-time year-round employment because their wages are too low. In addition, of the working poor who would be able to lift themselves out of poverty by working such hours, many are unable to do so because of health problems.

Single female headed families are especially over-represented among the working poor. Among the working poor, 49% live in families headed by a single woman. Of those who live in families headed by a single female, 28% work but live below 150% of the poverty level.

The working poor are less likely to be covered by health insurance by their employers. Only 18% of the working poor are covered by health insurance available through their employer or their union, compared to 55% of all workers. Most likely, the jobs these workers hold are less likely to offer health insurance.

The working poor need higher wages and jobs that offer full-year employment, wage supplements such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and access to services such as health care and child care. 

Department of Labor

In light of the facts listed by the Department of Labor, it does not take a genisus to understand that a company that employees 70% women, pays poverty wages, does not offer viable health options, keeps their employees at a part time level while earning billions in profit each year clearly contributes to America's working poor numbers.  I firmly believe that if Walmart were to increase both wages and hours and offer affordable medical plans, these numbers from the Dept. of Labor would drastically change. 

Walmart and Sherwood, Oregon have teamed up!

1 June 2013

I just found out that Walmart is coming to my neighborhood and may one day be coming to a neighborhood near you!  Can't you wait?  Low wages, more traffic, your neighborhood mom and pop shop will close down within a year and less choices of products to chose from.  Forget about buying things make in the U.S.

But wait!  There is more!  Not only do you bring more poverty into your own neighborhood, but you get to bring more slavery into China, more environmental toxic wastes will get dumped into both China and your own neighborhood!

Who can beat such a bargin!  Stop by and shop at Walmart today.

A bit about Sherwood, Oregon...from my perspective as a non-lifelong citizen.  Sherwood is all about the small town feeling, we have plenty of trees, parks and walkways.  We have one Highschool and Middle School, one nice and clean small library and cute and nifty downtown with old traditional buildings.  This is a family town, clean cut, mainly Christian and low in crime.  Everyone seems to know just about everyone and most of the folks grew up together.  We have your involved citizens, with the girl scouts, schools and development and we have your new families with stay at home moms running after their children or driving them around.

This great picture of a peaceful community is about to change and it is all because of corruption and greed.  Yes, this is what I said.  Rumors are:  One of the commissioners actually owned the land and sold it to Walmart for development.  But just before that, the zoning changed to allow this development.  It is also said that it is required for the local city government to announce the planning and request to build a new development.  It is supposed to be advertised, posted with signs on the property, in newspapers and hold an open local meeting for community discussion.

Well, none of that happened.  The Sherwood citizens found out about the Walmart after the fact.  For me this is corruption.  (uhh ohh, am I now blacklisted from this wonderful community for calling the cards as they are?)

You can imagine, if you have been following my blog over the years, that I am an anti-Walmart fan, I am person for justice and human rights. Once I discovered that in my very own community a Walmart of all things was in the future,  I was speechless for about two hours. I had to keep my head together because I was working.  Actually, I was under the impression that Sherwood was promoting the growth of small businesses and encouraging them to remain.  I actually thought that the city commission was against big businesses such as Walmart so I never imagined that one would be in my own backyard.  I was wrong and therefore shocked.

Please stay tuned to the postings about the progress and actions of our community against this Walmart.  I cannot but help writing and taking action to try to make this stop.  Please read some of the previous articles on this blog about Walmart linked below.  Don't worry, there is more to come on this topic!

Related Links:

Walmart stirs concern over wages
Walmart receives subsidies from the U.S. Government
Walmart Blip List
Walmart Biggest Seller of Firearms in the U.S.  (Do you want easy access to guns in your neighborhood?)
Walmart Keeping the World in Poverty
Walmart costs taxpayers $900,000 per year (Huffington Post)

London Woolwich attack terrorism?

23 May 2013

Ninety-five percent of the news report headlines accused the brutal attack on the London streets as a terror attack or "act of terrorism".  Although the incident was a brutal one, I tend to disagree, what does terrorism mean and how is it defined?  Yes, the attackers yelled, "Allahu Akbar" and cited Islam during the attack, but they were also avenging the continuous UK violence against Muslims.

Terrorism is an act of violence that deliberately targets civilians as in the embassy bombings, subway bombings, the bombing of airplanes.  This term is used in the effect to distinguish the difference between how the western world "targets" civilians and how terrorists target civilians.  We use F-16's, helicopters and drones.  They blow up their bodies to take as many people with them as possible.

The London attackers are quoted as saying, "A British soldier, and eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth."  This means that the attackers focused the attack on a British soldier, not civilians.  The difference between us and "them" is in the terms.  We attack combatants are the targets not civilians on their soil and land.  Western nations continuously kill Muslim civilians, yet it is not called an act of terrorism.  The U.S. has prisoners in Guantanamo merely because of act of violence not terrorism.  Yet, we have been known to commit horrible acts of violence against the same prisoners.

Okay, the solder was not in uniform or on duty.  Yet, the western nations kill people in their sleep, in their homes, while shopping or eating at a cafe and this is not terrorism?  The U.S. has redefined the word "militant" as any military aged male in a strike zone.  It is all about the lingo.

The identification terms have been widely broadened to make killing just about anyone okay.  We don't even have to wake them up from their sleep before they are shot.  How can killing a soldier from a nation who is at war an act of terrorism?

Was not the US shock attack on Baghdad an act of terrorism?  One of the attackers said, "The only reason we killed this man is because they are killing Muslims daily."  It was an act of vengeance and retaliation.  It was an act to gain attention to the western nations about their cause to try to get people to wake up and stop their violence.

During the Reagan administration the United States funded and supported Central American milita's that murdered civilians.  Our drones terrorize the local populations so they stop to harbor those that the western nations deem to be terrorists.  There are government sanctions on trade and food to practically starve out populations in the attempt to force them to change their governments and policies.

The problem with the news and others freely using this term is that the word is packed with political, cultural and emotional punches that put the conversation to a halt and can justify just about any action that is deemed desirable.  I have looked in depth on this word when I first started covering the conflict between the Israeli's and Palestinians and still ask the same questions.

I boil it down to this, "An act of violence by any Muslim in retaliation against any violence acted against Muslims."  The news reports could have said, "Muslim hacks  UK soldier in London streets in retaliation against the killing of elderly Muslim earlier this month."

The headlines read last month something like this:  Elderly Muslim stabbed in apparent anti-Muslim hate crime."  Was there any hint of terrorism in that headline or the following paragraphs?  The answer is no there was not.  My question is this:  what makes one act a terrorist act and the other simply an Anti-Muslim hate crime?

Something to think about.

crossing borders project: Kickstarter: Portland's Homeless Shepherd's Door Fourth Roll

crossing borders project: Kickstarter: Portland's Homeless Shepherd's Door Fourth Roll

These are the last of the selected images for the workshops and we are moving forward!  Now, we gather the images into a short film to create the represented stories.  Keep in tune.

crossing borders project: Portland Shepherd's Door: Third Roll

crossing borders project: Portland Shepherd's Door: Third Roll

crossing borders project: Portland Rescue Mission: Roll Three

crossing borders project: Portland Rescue Mission: Roll Three

crossing borders project: Roll Two: Portland Rescue Mission Men's Images

crossing borders project: Roll Two: Portland Rescue Mission Men's Images

I am about to scream

We might as well be putting skeletons on our foods as a warning to those who dare to cook and eat it.

It’s unbelievable, but Monsanto and Co. are at it again. These profit-hungry biotech companies have found a way to exclusively ‘own’ something that freely belongs to us all -- our food! They’re trying to patent away our everyday vegetables and fruits like cucumber, broccoli and melons, forcing growers to pay them and risk being sued if they don’t.

But we can stop them from buying up Mother Earth. Companies like Monsanto have found loopholes in European law to get away with this, so we just need to close them shut before they set a dangerous global precedent. And to do that, we need key countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands -- where opposition is already growing -- to call for a vote to stop Monsanto’s plans. The Avaaz community has shifted governments before, and we can do it again.

Many farmers and politicians are already against this -- we just need to bring in people power to pressure these countries to keep Monsanto’s hands off our food. Sign now and share with everyone to help build the biggest food defense call ever.

Excuse me, for knocking on the Monsanto thing so much but I feel that we are in "code orange" (forget the pun).  The EU is one of the last safe food regions in the world.  America is about over and has anyone tasted some of these melons?  I swear, I ate a melon that was grown in Mexico that tasted like chemicals.  

This company is literally starving the people in this world and causing cancer, fertility problems, and more.  Why can't we stand up and fight anymore?  Is our government that corrupt?

Please sign this petition and any that you see on this issue...NEVER STOP UNTIL WE CAN STOP IT.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_loc/?btknHab&v=23909

crossing borders project: First Roll Images - Portland Rescue Mission Workshop

crossing borders project: First Roll Images - Portland Rescue Mission Workshop

crossing borders project: Portland Rescue Mission History and Participants

crossing borders project: Portland Rescue Mission History and Participants

crossing borders project: 4 Days Left - Portland's Homeless Project

crossing borders project: 4 Days Left - Portland's Homeless Project