I have a presentation on Wednesday, over a couple of chapters of The Division of Labor in Society by Durkheim. You ever try to read Durkheim? It's hard to read. Well, some of it is. Parts of the first chapter I've been assigned are a breeze. I can understand exactly what he's getting at. Then for the next part, he kind of goes into so many analogies that it's exceeding difficult to get his point. It's in there somewhere, dammit. I'll figure it out. I guess I'm not really a big fan or Durkheim. Or Weber, for that matter. Oh, well. You have to do what you have to do, yeah?
On to the news.
-- [Charles] When Charles first sent me this link, I was a bit confused. Who is the EFF, and what is the TPP? I'd never heard of them before. The EFF is a group fighting for rights in the digital world. The TPP is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a secretive piece of legislation spanning multiple countries that seeks to make rules more strict, copyrights heftier, and punishments more harsh. This link has an infographic to let you know what the TPP would do, and how we can stop it.
-- A few days ago, a rant went viral on the web. The President of Ireland, Michael Higgins, went off on a Tea Party loving radio host about several important things. I may have posted this before, but I just found out something amazing. President Higgins talks about the people he met while working in the Midwest, and how they were hard-working people who loved their country, and how he believes they all deserve medical care. I just found out that President Higgins was talking about my school. He was apparently a faculty member of my university... In my department. I can honestly say I'm a little more prideful about my educational choice now. Here is the audio rant. It's a fantastic listen.
-- [Charles] The Renegade Raging Grannies are a great group of women who fight for rights and perform political commentary in the form of song. Here's their rendition of "Legitimate Rape," a song written for Mr. Todd Akin and his faulty medical advice towards women's health and pregnancy. (I fell in love with these women the minute I heard this.)
-- [Charles] There is a new cookbook available, but it won't teach you how to make a great souffle. "Cooking up Change: The Webskillet 'Zine" is available for free online for all revolutionaries who want to set up plans and strategic communications. Check it out here.
-- [Charles] If you are familiar with the people working in Occupy, you probably have heard of Jesse LaGreca. Mr. LaGreca is (from what I understand) an employee at DailyKos. He has written a letter to the people of the Republican Party. The Republican Party used to be fairly rational. (You may disagree, but it's all a matter of opinion. I could chat with my Republican friends about our differences of opinion, and we'd still get along just fine later.) Now it seems that a fringe group has overtaken them, and they are fiercely angry about a lot of things. This open letter does a great job on calling them out. Please, read this.
-- A member of Occupy Philadelphia, Joshua Albert, has created a Facebook page praising the killers of a police officer who was gunned down while he walked home. The two men being praised are accused of following Officer Moses Walker Jr., then attacking and shooting him. The Facebook page, called "I Support Chancier McFarland & Rafael Jones," has numerous anti-police quotes, songs, and links, but also has many people condemning it. Albert says "I stand by the page and the 1st Amendment." (Yeah, I stand by the 1st Amendment too, Mr. Albert. But I also believe that using the 1st Amendment with the specific purpose of praising the death of someone is wrong. WRONG. I don't care who it is, you don't stand there and proudly support someone's death. That's a human being, police officer or not. You make me feel ill, Mr. Albert, to know that you are willingly causing pain for people because you are happy an authority figure was gunned down. I don't hate police. I'm scared of police, yeah. But I don't ever believe they should be killed. What the hell does that accomplish? Nothing. Nothing. How sad. I do NOT support Chancier McFarland and Rafael Jones. They are innocent until proven guilty, so I will not condemn them. I will not support nor condemn them until the truth comes to light. But for your actions in this case, I do condemn you, Mr. Albert. I hope you've gotten the attention you wanted.)
-- In strange news, why the hell did the Social Security Administration order 174,000 rounds of hollow-point bullets?
-- Today is Women's Equality Day. Across the country, women are stepping out of their homes and offices to fight for their equal rights. Want to know what's going on close to you, or how you can get involved? Check it out here.
-- Breitbart News is still around, and they are saying they have found information concerning one of the tactics that may be used during the political National Conventions. According to reporter John Sexton, anarchists may be planning to disable EMS communications during the convention. Want to know more?
***Solidarity***
To contact me, email elvishbutterfly@hotmail.com. Thanks.
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