It's the Monday Morning Show for September 29th, 2014! Join me as I talk about young people changing the world and the old people who are trying to stop them. Young people are on the streets in Honk Kong and in Colorado while we're busy wondering if our iPhone's going to bend.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Just another sign of corporations having too much power…
So, I was out on my morning jog this morning when I passed
by a local concrete foundry pumping out tons of toxic smoke. The smoke was so
bad, I had to stop jogging because I was coughing so hard. I was coughing so
hard, I nearly threw up!
The smell was pretty bad where I lived, a couple of miles
away, too.
Vicky suggested I call the AQMD (the Air Quality Management
District) to register a complaint, which I did. What I didn’t expect, though,
was the lesson I received in just how powerful corporations are in relation to
how much they can pollute.
Here’s what I found out.
In order for the AQMD to even speak with the foundry and ask
them to please cut down on their smog, they need to have six different homes on
the same block all register complaints within the same hour. Then, they have to
remain at their home for an AQMD representative to come to their home and
verify the smell. This AQMD could take as much as three hours to get there, by
which time the wind could shift and the smell could move on.
Can you imagine how difficult that would be to pull off? Six
residents from six different homes all have to call at about the same time.
Then, they can’t leave their home. They have to wait there – not go to work –
and hope everyone else stays put as well. They have to wait for hours, all in
the hopes that the wind doesn’t shift!
And this won’t even get them definite action. The foundry
could ignore the request. When I asked the AQMD rep what the requirements were
for them to take definite action, such as a fine or a court order or anything,
she just shook her head and said, “Well, let’s try to get this first. This is
hard enough.”
Meanwhile, the foundry owners sit back and laugh at us
little people. They’ve made us powerless.
And the sad truth is, so many of us defend our corporate
overlords despite all that. And, in the grand scheme of things, this is
nothing.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Consistency...
"Remember the Maine!"... 1890's Spanish/American War
"Remember the Gulf of Tonkin!"... 1960's War in Vietnam
"Remember 9/11!"... 2000's War in Iraq
"Remember... some people who were killed by some scary brown people with weird beliefs..."... Next Week.
"Remember the Gulf of Tonkin!"... 1960's War in Vietnam
"Remember 9/11!"... 2000's War in Iraq
"Remember... some people who were killed by some scary brown people with weird beliefs..."... Next Week.
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