The Best Way to House the Haitian Earthquake Refugees

We have a humanitarian disaster bigger than the one already occurring on the ground in Haiti. When the rainy season comes, with all the tropical storms and hurricanes that come plowing through this area every summer, we can count on a disaster that could dwarf the death toll from this earthquake.

A major hurricane, could strike hundreds of thousands of people with little or no shelter. One of the quickest solutions and one that would be very cost effective would be to use the steel waterproof shipping containers cargo ships use to deliver goods to the world.

Now the U.S.A. with all its good intentions tends to get all bogged down and the logic gets all mixed up and complicated in offering aid. With Katrina for instance, we built thousands of formaldehyde poisoned 234 sq ft trailers, that while FEMA flat out refuses to say how much the government paid but reliable estimates by the New York Times & others place the cost at over $60,000 each.

Because the United States has a huge trade deficit the U.S. imports estimated 9 million units a year and exports only 6 million. The leftover shipping containers are being left in U.S. harbors because it is cheaper for the steamship lines to leave empty containers at American ports than to pay the freight to ship them back to their ports of origin.

These containers are waterproof and weather tight they can be stacked because of their uniform dimensions and several companies have developed designs for offices for construction sites and emergency shelter. These containers would be safer and more secure than the homes that most Haitians were living in before the quake.

Why bring in tents, let’s get a relief project right this time and use the right material. These containers are built to stack and with stand the storms of the open ocean. I think these a logical approach to the rebuilding of Haiti.

Go to these web sites and see the uses to shipping containers.
http://www.architectureaustralia.com.au/aa/aaissue.php?issueid=200109&article=11&typeon=2

http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/containerbayhome.htm

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity

Don't Let Corporations Steal Our Elections

Well boys and girls we are now AmeriKa the land of the bought and paid for…

The Supreme Court has just announced its decision in Citizens United v. FEC and they gave corporations the same political speech rights as you and I. In a narrow 5-4 decision, the Roberts Court overturned the 60-year-old ban on corporate spending in elections.

Now Corporate America has the Courts approval to use its immense wealth to buy elected officials Republican or Democrat. The court’s decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission struck down 60 years of legal precedent prohibiting corporations from making campaign expenditures to attack or support political candidates.

The curt ruled that the First Amendment which was designed to protect the speech of you and I the real live humans, now protects the for-profit corporations the right to influence elections.

Talk about shredding the Constitution and giving the middle finger to the founders of this great nation. Public Citizen has a video on what can be done in response to the Supreme Court’s decision.

Go to this link because we must fight back. This is not about the Political Left vs. Right this is about the fight between the Top & Bottom People vs. corporations so if you think you’re part of the bottom you better take some action.

With this ruling corporations can pour huge amounts of cash into political campaigns and anyone who may challenge the corporate agenda will be buried under the almost unlimited amount of corporate campaign cash.

This just isn’t right and we must defeat this ruling with a constitutional amendment amendment re-establishing that First Amendment protections (except for freedom of the press) do not apply to for-profit corporations.

Fight back and go to this link and take action.
http://action.citizen.org/t/10315/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=2190

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity.

Screw you Mr. Potter... And BoA Too!

January 7, 2010

Screw you Mr. Potter... And BoA Too!

By Michael Chavers


"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore" was the anthem in the 1976 film Network. I'm going to make this my anthem and do something to take my two cents out of the coffers of the to big to fail bankers we just bailed out who have controlled the financial policies of this country since the Reagan years.

I have for the last several years have tried to buy local, from non-corporate entities, shopping at the chains when it was my last option. Where I failed to do this though was through my banking.

Well that's over now. What has driven me to write this was over Christmas I needed to buy some booze for a party I was giving and I had left my debit card home to try and keep from overspending. Well since booze is essential for my existence and that of my friends I needed to use my credit card.

I figured that I was close to the limit so before I left work that Friday I made a credit card payment on my Bank AmeriKa Visa from my Bank of AmeriKa debit account for a hundred dollars to avoid the hefty over limit fee the banks charge now.

Purchase approved mission accomplished. Well I looked at my Bank of America account Saturday and I see no record of the payment I made. My purchases where close to the limit but not over so I figured I must not have hit the confirm payment when I put the money into my credit card account.

Well I make a $25 dollar payment just to keep a few dollars on the card and decide I should do that too on my other credit cards figuring I have a hundred dollars to use that had not been taken from my checking account.

Well come Monday I look at my account and there goes the $100 bucks to Bank of America and payments for all my other credit cards which puts me in the red for about $64. Then on Tuesday I get 3 $35 dollar overdraft charges for payments I made on my credit cards and an $18 purchase.

Well I go into my closest Bank of America and sign the list to wait for several minutes to speak to a banker who tells me that it is my fault that the payment didn't post until Monday because they only post on business days. I tell him that my other cards take payments made before 3pm post the same day and after 3pm to the next. Then the banker tells me that that is not how Bank of AmeriKa does it and since it is my fault I am going to get charged with 3 $35 dollar over draft charges case closed.

Now so far I am out $110 dollars and 2 hours time. I'm mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore.

This is a call to action and this really makes sense. You can kick your big banker in the place that really hurts their purse. Suze Orman thinks that the banks are screwing its customers and has suggested a back to cash movement. I think that is a great idea she has a web site and a movement has been started.

Even better than this we all should go even further and this is what I will be doing this week. I am going to close my Bank of AmeriKa accounts and move all my money into a local FDIC insured bank like the one we all probably saw Jimmy Stewart run in the Christmas movie It's A Wonderful Life.

If enough people do this we can make an impact. Check out these web sites and Viva la Revolution.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/4/move_your_money_project_urges_people

http://www.suzeorman.com/index.cfm

Screw you Mr. Potter