Equity, a Poem by Craig Hill (repost)

First, sorry for the bad formatting above.  It is just how WordPress formats reblogged posts.  Please view the original post on Craig Hill’s site.

Next, here’s my comments about his post and the reason for reposting it:

I haven’t posted anything here in KnowCanDo in the area of creative writing – fiction or poetry – before… I’m not sure why, but I suppose I have been totally focused on non-fiction and opinion of late, which shows in the books I’ve been reading the past several years…

Craig Hill’s poem, IMHO, is extremely interesting. It is extremely contemporary, in the sense that it is very unlikely that it would have been written at any time historically but now. In a sense, I think that as poetry, it is unlikely to be something that has a “lasting” impact, in that it doesn’t seem to be something reviewed 200 years from now in an English Literature class in Providence, Rhode Island.  (I have nothing for, or against, Providence.  It is merely an example.  I chose the city at random from my memory just because I imagined it to be far from Craig in Brisbane, Queensland, in Australia.)

That doesn’t mean it isn’t a good poem. I see him trying to impact an audience now. He wants his reader to think not just about the situation he describes, be it imaginary or on a real court case he has witnessed.  As someone who has done work for many years in security and law enforcement, the situation Hill describes in his poem is probably rooted in one or more of the cases that he has seen.

But the details of the situation – real or fictional matter little.  In either case, the situation is one that is likely to have happened before and can happen again. It is this potential that makes it pertinent to think about how we think – not just about other races, in general, but also about how courts and society treats and considers the rights and prejudices that individuals have.

Though the imagery conveyed in every other line is stark and descriptive, it is the repetition of the phrase, “Equal, in the eyes of the law,” that stands out. Read as a statement, Hill’s meaning, of course, is that it is really a question. What is equality? What is fairness? What is justice? How can we ensure these abstract rights when we make decisions in court and in government based on the unbiased observation and judgement of biased people?

As educators and people seeking to improve the quality of life for everyone, we need to learn to develop personal conduct that embrases the values of fairness, honesty, kindness, and justice. But we cannot enforce it among individuals. We can only hope that the moral and ethical fabric of our children will hold tight our most vital, vibrant, and human ideals.

Thank you, Craig, for this thoughtful song!

Related articles

• About ” Craig Hill (fourbluehills.com)
• April: National Poetry Month! Get Ready…. (step-on-a-crack.com)
• Creative Writing in the Language Classroom (oupeltglobalblog.com)

Craig Hill Media

The policeman, and prisoner, both stand in the court;
Both equal, in the eyes of the law.
It was just yesterday, that these two had fought,
But now they’re equal, in the eyes of the law.

The black man, they say, raped a white girl;
All equal in the eyes of the law.
Now, as the story starts to unfurl,
They’re all equal, in the eyes of the law.

The prisoner is barefoot, he doesn’t look well;
But he’s equal, in the eyes of the law.
Unshaven and dirty, from a night in the cell;
But he’s equal, in the eyes of the law.

The black man was caught with the white girl one day;
They’re equal, in the eyes of the law.
She’d taken him home, while her husband’s away;
All equal, in the eyes of the law.

The husband was early, and caught the black guy;
All equal…

View original post 408 more words

Occupy Everywhere: From Wall Street to Main Street

The Occupy Wall Street has become so ubiquitous that its acronym – OWS – is now familiar. Still, it is primarily interpreted as a protest, which is only a small part of the movement’s intent. It is actually probably a bit presumptuous to call it a singly movement, when it is really a combination of many movements. While most people are focused on what appears to be a tidal wave, I think that the most important thing is that there are billions of people riding that wave, not being swept underneath its path.

A related movement, of course, is 99%.

We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we’re working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.

While the recent days have seen police throughout the US break up tent cities and arrest mostly non-violent protesters, it is clear that the vast majority of Americans see that the basic tenets of OWS and 99% are true. They are upset over the bankers, the investment brokers, and the 1% that own and employ and enjoy the corporate welfare while continuing to exert pressure on the government through lobbying and threats to move capital and jobs offshore. Their threats work, because recent history indicates that these threats are real.

So what is left for the rest of us to do? Everything, really. It is not really Wall Street or Oakland or the city centers anywhere that we need to occupy. We obviously need to live somewhere. We all need to work, play, learn, love, eat, do, and sing and dance.

We need to gather and talk, to think and act, to be firm and certain, to question and reconsider. We need to be considerate and kind, deliberate and apologize when we are wrong. But we cannot continue to expect that somehow pandering to the greed and power of the 1% will somehow lead to a desirable end for all. It won’t happen – ever.

So OWS is here to stay, at least until WS is just another street where some blokes live. I will choose, then, to live on a stream, rather than a street, pursuing a less convenient life in order to find, with a bit of difficulty, the pleasures that come the hard way. But to get there, we have a whole lot of hard work ahead. Good thing that there are a lot of people willing to lend a good hand. Chippin’ in, as they say, with a little bit of a lot.

It’s mighty fine company we share! Good to be a part of the 99; it sure is lonely being the only 1.

This 2 hour video is from The Nation and The New School in New York City and is about the movement after OWS. It comes from a live broadcast of an event held on Thursday, November 10, at The New School in New York City. The New School hosted Occupy Everywhere: On the New Politics and Possibilities of the Movement Against Corporate Power, a discussion featuring award-winning filmmaker and author Michael Moore (Here Comes Trouble), best-selling author and Nation columnist Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine), Nation National Affairs correspondent William Greider (Come Home, America), Colorlines Publisher Rinku Sen (The Accidental American), Occupy Wall Street Organizer Patrick Bruner and Richard Kim, executive editor, The Nation.com (moderator).

Symbionomics: Contributing to a New Future…

I’ve been really thinking a lot about how money works over the past few weeks.  There are a lot of reasons for this.  It seems that there are a lot of troubles with the flow of money over the past few months.  It is something that has been going on for quite some time, but in Japan, the connected calamities starting with the 9.1 magnitude quake of 3.11.2011 and subsequent 30-meter tsunami waves that crushed communities along a 1000 km coastline have resulted in a complex stagnation of the flow of money, people, and ideas.

While simultaneously trying to revive flows of capital, I have been thinking, of course, about the real problems in our interlinked monetary system.  There is something intrinsicly wrong with a system that encourages some people to hoard while severely limiting the flow to others, in far greater numbers.  It is not different from allowing people who happen to live in the mountains to dam the rivers, providing themselves with a surplus of water and stored energy, while the far greater numbers of people in the valleys below become poor, unhealthy, and dependent on the whims and charity of the mountain dwellers.

There is much to do to restore fairness as the guiding principle for governance and capital distribution of the entire planet.  We are all to blame for systems that reward the few at the expense of most.  We are not bullys or victims, but are losing the battle for a healthy and safe planet for human existence.  We don’t have long to dilly and dather.  Let’s share the good ideas, consider them, and implement the ones that have a strong chance of providing for a better future.

<p>LandingPage from alan rosenblith on Vimeo.</p>

Welcome to the Metacurrency Project

http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf

via metacurrency.org

Extremely well thought and worth exploring… The Future of Money is one of the most important developments of our time. Everyone alive should consider its implications for the betterment of life for all living beings and for the future of human life. Apathy and intentional ignorance is not just foolish, but pathetic.

How much is a billion dollars?

Warren Buffet’s recent challenge to billionaires and other Super Rich to pay their fair share of the tax burden got me thinking.  How much is a billion dollars?

I know, from simple math, that if I made $50,000 per year, a bit more than the average annual salary, then it would take me exactly 20,000 years to make a billion dollars.  I’m in very good health, but I’m not likely to live that long, I’m afraid.  Since the 90th percentile household in the US makes a bit more than $75,000 per year, so at that rate, the household that makes more than 90% of all families in the US would take about 13,000 years to make a cool billion. 

Only 2% of all households in the US earn more than $250,000 per year.  The family that makes more than 98% of all families in the US will only take 4,000 years to get to a billion dollars. 

Of course, this is all hypothetical.  It assumes that the people and families pay no taxes.  And, it assumes that they don’t make any investments, which can, of course, increase one’s earnings, particularly over a lifetime.

So I thought it would be interesting to look at some real figures.  if you were a big-shot CEO in America, you might earn millions of dollars per year.  That’s not chump change, and it’s not even counting other compensation, including share options.

The Top Earning CEOs:

• Ray Irani, Occidental Petroleum: $52 million
• Robert Iger, Disney: $21 million
• Samuel Palmisano, IBM: $20 million
• William Weldon, Johnson & Johnson: $20 million
• Jay Fishman, Travelers: $20 million

So Mr Irani would get to a billion dollars in a little more than 19 years, while the others will take near 50.  Well within a lifetime for some of these gentlemen. 

But there is another group of high earners that makes these guys look like paupers.  Its the Hedge Fund Managers.  What is a hedge fund?  Google describes it as:

A limited partnership of investors that uses high risk methods, such as investing with borrowed money, in hopes of realizing large capital gains

These guys pool money from a bunch of rich guys and companies “hedging” their bets on the economy, and make huge risky investments.  These investments have been accused of many things, including destroying weaker currencies and nations.  Oh well, it’s all in the interest of money, right?

So how much money do the top hedge fund managers make?  If you thought, “At least a billion dollars,” you win the jackpot!

The Top Earning Hedge Fund Managers:

• David Tepper, Appaloosa Management: $4 billion
• George Soros, Soros Fund Management: $3.3 billion
• James Simons, Renaissance Technologies: $2.5 billion
• John Paulson, Paulson & Company: $2.3 billion
• Steve Cohen, SAC Capital Advisors: $1.3 billion

So, if you’re like me, neither a hedge fund manager or a top CEO, and you earn less than what 98% of all Americans earn, then here is another way to look at this:

Some very good news: If you and your family of 4 are all doctors, and you earn around the average income of all doctors in the United States, then you may, in the next 73 years earn a billion dollars! And you’d be in pretty select company – less than 1% of all households make more than you!

The shares of public companies in one state alone have taken a tumble of more than one billion dollars 3 days so far in August 2011.  That state: Iowa.  Staggering.  Who continues to reap huge profits during financial havoc?  You probably won another jackpot…

So, who deserves a billion dollars a year?…