Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Socialist, poem, receives Karita Hummer's silver pen award


Shankar Hemmady is the recipient of Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award for his poem, The SOCIALIST


I have received another lovely poem from Shankar Hemmady, a very apt commentary on the sorry state of politics in America today, where epithets, like Socialist, are being used to confuse and fool voters. Let us hope that Americans are not duped once again by scare tactics and demagogic put-downs that only line the coffers of those who have much. Let us keep in mind what our nation can do together, to give opportunity, like health care and education and employment, to all.

Shankar's poem speaks to my most powerful lessons of life, and what I believe so firmly. It is essentially a poem about love.

Karita Hummer

Here is Shankar Hemmady's beautiful poem, cross-posted from Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=feed&id=1455330101#/note.php?note_id=32683972198&ref=mf

The SOCIALIST
He was neither a conservative nor a liberal.
Out of necessity, he was really a radical!

He never wrote a business plan
Nor did he give long-winding speeches.

Never ever did he invest
nor make a profit,
nor rupture a bank
nor bail out an insurance giant!

He was neither a Joe Six Pack
Nor did he talk like a Pistol Packing Princess.
I wonder if He even killed a rat!

He didn't fight over gay marriages
Nor did he quarrel over unhappy divorces.
He didn't impregnate teeny tiny girls
Nor did he leave them uncared
alongside wounded veterans!

He neither preached the death penalty
nor did He burn people at pro-life protests!

He simply stayed in his heart,
mumbling parables incomprehensible:
"The Kingdom of God Is Within You"
"Love Thy Neighbor"
"Love Thy Enemy"

He neither had a Get-to-Market strategy
Nor a Golden Parachute.
Nor did he even fathom an Exit Strategy!

Exit he did, the way He allowed it be:
Died He for us, out there on the Holy Cross.

Several sorcerers still sell stories
Capitalizing coolly on catchy classics.

He died for us
He died for our welfare.
How much more agony
Do you want Him to bear?

Lots of love,
shankar

The Role of a Free Press in a Free Society receives Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award


Jamess is the

recipient of KaritaHummer's Silver Pen award for this important and very timely article.


The Role of a Free Press in a Free Society

by: jamess

Cross-posted from Progrssive Blue
http://www.eenrblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2976

Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 09:40:29 AM EDT

(an accountability opinion.... :D - promoted by poligirl)


[Abbreviated version of original post: Jul 20, 2007 by jamess, on dailykos]

Freedom of the Press

The Free Press is the only business protected byt the Constitution.

By Ellen Hume, Director, Center on Media and Society,

University of Massachusetts, Boston, Mar. 29, 2007

... four essential roles that a Free Press serves:

1. holding government leaders accountable to the people,
2. publicizing issues that need attention,
3. educating citizens so they can make informed decisions, and
4. connecting people with each other in civil society.


http://www.democracy.gov/dd/en...
1) Holding Government Accountable
The watchdog function is often the hardest to perform well. Government agencies and officials are not always willing to be transparent, especially if there is no tradition of public scrutiny.
...

"Freedom of speech and exchange of information are not just luxuries, they are the currency on which global commerce, politics, and culture increasingly depend," observed David Hoffman, the founder of Internews, an international nongovernmental agency that helps train and develop independent media in 50 countries.

2) Publicizing Issues

Without a free and independent press sector, the full responsibility for public information and safety resides only in the government. This lack of public engagement can seriously undermine a country's security and economic growth.

For example, the Chinese media did not report the unfolding SARS epidemic in 2003 accurately, because they were following their government's wishes to minimize the crisis.
...
In this case, the independent foreign media held the government accountable on behalf of the people when the local media were not allowed to do so.

3) Educating Citizens

When they are able to function freely, local newspapers and radio and television stations can be important building blocks of democracy. In addition to serving as a watchdog on local institutions and alerting the public to safety issues, they can help citizens understand and access their distant government.
...
The news is watched by the authorities as well as the citizens. When the government tried to shut down the station at one point in order to control its political influence, the public and sponsors protested, and the government had to let it reopen.

4) Connecting People

Access to the local news can even save lives. When Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on New Orleans, Louisiana ...

To be sure, the free press does not always perform professionally, and there can be unintended consequences to opening up the media. But the more the news media offer balanced news and community discussions, the more the public values them.

This civic information is the fuel of democracy. The people become better educated and take more responsibility for their own well being.

The media can act as a safety valve by offering a forum for diverse voices to be heard.
...

A second World Bank report, Consultations With the Poor, studied 20,000 poor people in 23 countries and found that what most "differentiates poor people from rich people is a lack of voice. The inability to be represented. The inability to convey to the people in authority what it is that they think. The inability to have a searchlight put on the conditions of inequality. These people interviewed do not have Ph.D.s but they have the knowledge of poverty, and the first thing they talked about is not money. It is lack of voice, it is lack of the ability to express themselves."

A vibrant media sector, with competing independent newspapers, radio, Internet Web sites, and television, allows those voices to be heard. These media can spotlight problems, encourage fellow citizens and government officials to address them, and empower even the destitute with real information. Everyone gains if the poor have a chance to improve their lot, taking part in the opportunities afforded by free speech, free press, and the right to assembly in democratic societies.


---------



Ellen Hume, Director, Center on Media and Society, goes on to summarize the importance of the Free Press by equating Information with Power:

... it is impossible to maximize political stability, economic growth, and democracy without the free flow of information.



Information is power.

If a nation is to enjoy the political and economic advantages enabled by the rule of law, powerful institutions must be open to scrutiny by the people. If technology and science are to advance, ideas must be openly shared.

And if government is to be valued because it is accountable to the people, free and independent news media are essential to that process.

That is why Thomas Jefferson, the primary drafter of the American Declaration of Independence, insisted that the U.S. Constitution include the public's right to free speech, a free press, and public assembly.

"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter," he wrote in 1787.
...

Hosted by usinfo.state.gov

http://www.democracy.gov/dd/en...
============

[...]

In my opinion, Corporations, including Media Corporations NEED TO BE GOOD CITIZENS TOO! (At least until that future day when the Supreme Court, reverses the ruling that "Corporations are really persons" too)



[...]

Does the average citizen realize the many dangerous implications of Presidential "Signing Statements" -- that they effectively put the Bush Administration "above the law"?

Or another example, does the average citizen know where the Candidates stand on the Issues? (Hardly, unless you consider haircuts, gender, ethnicity, fund-raising, and polls, to be "important Issues"; which seems be all the MSM cares to report about the Candidates.)

SO, NO the MSM FAILS TO EDUCATE CITIZENS TO BE INFORMED AND EFFECTIVE CITIZENS !


[...]

Maybe when "Freedom of Choice" is combined with "Freedom of the Press", it's destined to result in a dumbed down, tuned out, apathetic electorate? Given SO many different Media choices, maybe it's like Bruce Springsteen says "There's 500 channels and nothin' on"? (Although, I doubt Thomas Jefferson would agree with this assessment, as he preferred Newspapers, over Government, given a choice!)

When will Reality (and all its weighty consequences) finally trump the Angst/Apathy of this Media-saturated generation? (I'm talking about Reality-in-the-World all around us, NOT Reality-TV, which is staged and edited entertainment.)

Perhaps if the MSM stepped up its efforts to publicize important issues again (like our "broken Health Care" system), and to educate citizens (like on "our system of checks and balances", and the threats it now faces), and perhaps if the MSM actually helped Congress, to hold Leaders Accountable -- instead of holding those same Leaders harmless -- well then just MAYBE ... that would WAKE UP the "tuned out" public from its yawning "Civic Apathy"?



Perhaps IF ONLY the Media would work for the "Public Good", for a change, instead of its all-consuming Corporate Profits, well MAYBE then "We The People" would finally start to "feel good" about our Country, and our Future again? Maybe the MSM could actually restore Hope again? ... Could be?

Until then it's up to Citizen-Bloggers, to fulfil these all-important "Roles of a Free Press in a Free Society". It's up to us to be the 4th Estate, the Government Watchdogs, to act as the crier in the public square, as an important linchpin of our Constitutional form of Democracy; And it's up to us to value Fact-based Information above all else! Afterall that's where the Power is!

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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Block the Vote is the Republican Strategy according to RFK, JR and Greg Palast + their comic book

Block the Vote is the Republican Strategy according to RFK, JR and Greg Palast and not so funny comic book

by: Karita Hummer

Cross-posted from

http://www.eenrblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2975

Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 04:08:23 AM EDT


Vigilance before the election. Electoral Reform after the election.

This fight is about OUR Democracy. Join it; it is worth saving. Sign the Pledge of Action now at: http://www.nomorestolenelections.org/subscribe

Heads up!! Bobby Kennedy, Jr. And Greg Palast have a not so funny comic book on vote purging and caging, but passing it around before the election might help us get the last laugh. http://www.stealbackyourvote.org/ In a Rolling Stone Article, Kennedy and Palast also tell the amazing story of how the Supervisor of Elections in Las Vegas, New Mexico found himself purged from the voting rolls on Super Tuesday during the Primary Election. About 20% of the voters in that County were said to have been purged, compared to 10% at large in the state, a high enough number to make any Democracy loving citizen cringe- and cry! Kennedy and Palast claim there is much to suggest that voter suppression has been a Republican solution to the dangers of democracy for their party since the days of the first Reagan election. See: http://www.rollingstone.com/po...

For example, from a Reagan election year, they quoted a statement by Paul Weyrich, whom they describe currently as "a principal architect of today's Republican Party". At the time, Paul Weyrich was said to have "scolded evangelicals who believed in democracy", saying. "Many of our Christians have what I call the 'goo goo' syndrome - good government," said Weyrich, who co-founded Moral Majority with Jerry Falwell. "They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. . . . As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."" http://www.rollingstone.com/po...

More below the fold...

Yikes!! How scary can it get? For now, we must be vigilant. Right after the elections, we have to pursue electoral reform legislation with teeth, hopefully, with a filibuster-proof Senate.

For the last laugh, get the Kennedy-Palast not so funny comic book available for a donation at
http://www.stealbackyourvote.org/ It can be downloaded there at the site. This is a comic book for sharing, for sure, or get their equally not so funny movie, at http://www.stealbackyourvote.o... This all hot off the presses. Go for it.

Karita Hummer

Edwards Democrat, insistent on electoral justice.

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Thursday, October 23, 2008

A Poet's Timely Plea to Six-pack Joes and Soccer Moms Everywhere: Joes and Soccer or Hockey Moms

Cross-posted from Progressive Blue:

http://www.eenrblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2934


Thu Oct 23, 2008 at 14:52:17 PM EDT


My Facebook friend, Shankar Hemmady, has written a very timely poem about tolerance and love. Written to Six-pack Joes and Sassy Socker Moms, his poem is timely in this political season and lovely. If heeded, his is a remedy that would go a long way to healing our nation of its syndrome of bigotry and racism, a sinful and nation/self-destructing disease if there ever was one.

Joe Six-Packs and Socker and Hockey Moms, forsake the politics of beer friendship and drunken bonding and female sass for the sake of sass. Time for serious reflection and purpose. We have work to do in this nation. Heed this poetic plea, and heal thyself.

Karita Hummer :: A Poet's Timely Plea to Six-pack Joes and Soccer Moms Everywhere: Joes and Soccer or Hockey Moms
An Ardent Plea to Jovial Joe Six-Packs and Sassy Socker Moms

by Shankar Hemmady

Cross-posted From Facebook Notes:
http://www.facebook.com/home.p...

Withdraw hate
Radiate joy.

Heed the words
of God:

Love
Peace
Harmony

with

your neighbor
your enemy
your self
your father
your son
your holy ghost.

Isn't this a lovely poem? Will our nation heal itself of all its divisions, hatreds, and injustices?

Karita Hummer
Edwards Democrat, One nation for all.

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