Nancy Weaver       

          

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/weaver

 

What am I talking about?

"We no longer have checks and balances.
We no longer have a just justice system. We have a Tea Party- obstructing democracy. We have corporate control of all branches
of government: writing the laws in state houses and for the U. S. Congress. (ALEC and the Kochs.)

We have a Tax Code bent to favor the wealthy and hurt the middle- class. We have an infrastructure (schools, roads, bridges) falling apart and
no one doing anything about it. We have vets that the USA sent into harm's way on a lie and when they come back home, we don't take care of them.

We no longer have the Fourth Estate - a free press. The Executive Branch is too powerful.
This corruption has taken place not just since George W. Bush; Barack Obama has continued this abuse.

We have 2.5 million Americans in corporate-owned prisons. We have laws denying women reproductive rights. We're still at war.
We continue keeping prisoners in Gitmo without trial. We torture.

...What am I ..talking about?
WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT????
ARE YOU SERIOUS????

Progress:
Portland Public Schools,
Portland, Oregon,
celebrates Indigenous Peoples' Day
for the first time.

A true history would be the best way to celebrate:

Howard Zinn "A People's History of the United States"
-- First Chapter exposes importance a truthful study of Columbus could be in showing how easily, how inhumanely, the powerful subjugate people over and over again.
'Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress': "Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts."

He later wrote of this in his log:
'They ...brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned ... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features ... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane ... They would make fine servants ... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.'

Zinn continues: "These Arawaks of the Bahama Islands were much like Indians on the mainland, who were remarkable (European observers were to say again and again) for their hospitality, their belief in sharing. These traits did not stand out in the Europe of the Renaissance, dominated as it was by the religion of popes, the government of kings, the frenzy for money that marked Western civilization and its first messenger to the Americas, Christoper Columbus."