"The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Towards Justice." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Today is the 55th anniversary of the Little Rock Nine, the 9 African American high school students who attempted to enter Little Rock Central High School were met with National Guard troops, definatly sent there by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus to prevent the school's court ordered desegregation. Faubus later agreed to use the troops to protect the students, but he instead dismissed them, leaving the students vulnerable to the mob. President Eisenhower then sent the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army to take direct control of the Arkansas National Guard and protect the Little Rock Nine as they took classes.

The experience of the Little Rock Nine is recalled in the Renaud Brothers 2007 documentary:

Twelve years later, in 1969, I was born into an America that had taken many faltering steps on the path of racial equality, but which was still stumbling in many respects. In 2007, fifty years after the Little Rock Nine, my first child, a daughter, was born into an America that had made true and impressive gains in expanding opportunity not just on racial lines, but across numerous populations. Her opportunities as a woman in education and career are vastly better than any previous American generation. People with disabilities have genuinely protected rights in education and work, and society's relationship with gays and lesbians in our communities are vastly better than the year I was born.

But I would be foolish to think all work related to justice is accomplished. Emancipation may have brought legal equality to black Americans, but it has not brought a broadly enjoyed prosperity. Our nation demonstrates a decided uneasiness with demographic trends that will clearly make us a less white nation over the next two generations. Sexism holds powerful cultural influence even today, and while acceptance of same sex families is growing, there are vast tracks of territory in America where those families have no legal rights enjoyed by other "traditional" families.

So, as Dr. King said in 1967, the "arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." This applies not only in America but across the world where many nations have seen dramatic changes in the 55 years since 1957.

What changes have your society seen that you believe increase justice? What would you like to see yet happen?

GOP and the US Postal Service: No, It's Not Raining

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

When last I ranted I promised to share any "gems" I found in the 2012 Republican Party Platform. I don't like posting too often, but traipsing across this item just got my blood boiling. Let's read:

Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service for the Twenty-First Century

The dire financial circumstances of the Postal Service require dramatic restructuring. In a world of rapidly advancing telecommunications, mail delivery from the era of the Pony Express cannot long survive. We call on Congress to restructure the Service to ensure the continuance of its essential function of delivering mail while preparing for the downsizing made inevitable by the advance of internet communication. In light of the Postal Service’s seriously underfunded pension system, Congress should explore a greater role for private enterprise in appropriate aspects of the mail-processing system.

( This bit of dreck deserves to be examined line by line. Strap in. )

I'm going to stop reading this Platform thing for a while. It's too full of the stoopid, if not of the Pure Evil.

Why nothing changes on the greenhouse front

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

http://unfccc.int/meetings/doha_nov_2012/meeting/6815.php

Come November, the same old same old will repeat once again. Several thousand environmentally concerned dudes and dudettes will convene on a summit to bicker on a possible agreement on the issue of global climate. From time to time, the occasional politician will give a nice speech. The end result? Zero. Nada.

This time the saviors of Earth will meet in Qatar. Shrug. I can tell you from now that no decisions will be taken about countering climate change. Why? Because the main players will never come to a common ground. Still, various populist politicians and pundits will score a few cheap points from the whole thing, while exercising their verbal acrobatics in front of eager ears. Some of us will rant a bit that those fuckers are totally inept, while others will remain content that nothing has changed and no one will be coming to seize their property and freedoms (read: taxes) in the following year. At least not for pouring it into some bottomless bucket that is the issue of climate change. If it ever existed. I mean... if it were ever caused by humans. Sun spots, I mean. Um, just God probably, maybe. The tides - we've never been able to explain them. Whatever.

( Yeah, really, whatever. )