”UNLESS YOU CAN AFFORD TO PARTAKE IN OUR CUSTOMS AND CONVENTIONS, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE.“
Damien Shannon describes this as the operative “policy” of Oxford University in England. He was rejected for admission because he could not raise 12,000 pounds a year in personal income available to support the “customs and conventions” which require students to live in expensive “colleges” and to dine and socialize with the other students therein. Charging elitist discrimination in this policy, Shannon sues Oxford University.
(UK Daily Mail)
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WORDS HE SHOULDN’T HAVE SAID IF HE WANTED TO AVOID BEING KICKED OFF AN INAUGURAL CONCERT STAGE.
Grammy-nominated musician Lupe Fiasco headlined an inaugural concert on an inaugural day coinciding with Martin Luther King day. Apparently taking his inspiration from King more than from Obama, he responded to King’s admonition that we are responsible for what we don’t say as well as for what we say. He performed his anti-war song “Words I Never Said” with such lyrics as “I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit, Just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets.” Though they denied kicking Fiasco off the stage, concert organizers say (in contradiction to videos of the event) that the crowd grew restless with his performance and they decided to “move on” to the next act.
(World Socialist)
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IN B.C., WHERE HAVE ALL THE SALMON GONE? GONE TO FEEDLOTS, EVERY ONE.
Well, nearly every one. Alexandra Morton documents in great detail with excerpts from a newspaper called The Fisherman, the operation which began in 1984 by means of which the Canadian government gave every kind of support and encouragement to investors eager to remove the salmon resources of the Pacific coast of British Columbia away from native fishermen and into the hands of feedlot operators. All this was accomplished in the name of “development” and jobs-creation in the area, though what was “created” was only the devastation of a native industry and without any notable improvement in the employment situation of local people.
(Dissident Voice)
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EXXON-MOBIL’S QUARTER MILLION DOLLAR CONTRIBUTION TO INAUGURAL COMMITTEE IS A DROP IN THE BUCKET FOR A COMPANY THAT EARNS AROUND $40 BILLION PER YEAR AND PAYS INCOME TAX AT A RATE OF 17%.
Watch-dogs on corporate influence on government cite this as an example of the “Buy Partisan” effort of industries to purchase political influence on both sides of the political aisle. While the Obama inaugural committee foreswore corporate contributions in 2008, they now are helping to open the “flood gate” to money influence on politics that Obama has castigated as an effect of the Citizens United court decision.
(Counterpunch)
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DRONE SURVEILLANCE OF FLORIDA CITIZENS MAY BECOME LESS LIKELY.
Miami police department purchased some drone equipment but has never deployed it, as it awaits federal clearance. Meantime, the Republican-dominated legislature, supported by the ACLU, is likely to pass legislation to put an outright ban on the use of drones for criminal surveillance in Florida.
(Miami New Times)
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Quote of the day…
Sometimes I can’t do the laundry. And it’s not like, “Oh, I’m too tired to do the laundry,” it’s like, “Um, I don’t understand how to turn the washing machine on.” I am looking at a washing machine and a pile of laundry and my brain is literally overwhelmed by trying to figure out how to reconcile them.
Brannan Vines, wife of a U.S. soldier who contracted PTSD in Iraq and has apparently “given it to” other members of his family.
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Do you receive the daily headlines in the form of an early-morning e-mail? If you don’t and you would like to receive them, just send a note to sunstateactivist2@yahoo.com and you’ll be enrolled in the “Progressive breakfast club.”
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