All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Whatever you do, DON’T share this on the internet about UKIP:

Pride's Purge

(not satire – it’s the UKIP!)

The so-called libertarian party UKIP have been informing the police of anyone who posts things about them they don’t like on the internet.

They are also threatening to sue anyone who uses their logo without their permission.

So much for their supposed support of freedom of speech.

So probably best not to post this anywhere on the internet then:

UKIP logo

.

Oops!

.

Read more from Another Angry Voice blog:

Why I chose to self-censor after legalistic threats from UKIP

And from Axe of Reason blog:

You are not allowed to read this blog

.

Please feel free to comment. And share. If you dare:

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Two U.S. health workers ill after MERS exposure; World Health Organization meets | Reuters

Two health workers at a Florida hospital exposed to a patient with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome have begun showing flu-like symptoms, raising concerns about the ability of global health authorities to contain the mysterious and deadly virus.

The World Health Organization convened an emergency meeting in Geneva on Tuesday to decide whether the rising rate of confirmed cases, most of them in Saudi Arabia, constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern.”

Florida officials said they were monitoring the health of 20 healthcare workers who had been in contact with the patient, including a doctor who had already left for Canada. They also were trying to track down nearly 100 people who may have overlapped with the patient at the two medical facilities he visited.

via Two U.S. health workers ill after MERS exposure; World Health Organization meets | Reuters.

Gary Walkowicz for UAW President 2014 – Statement

At the UAW Convention in June 2014, I Will Run for President

Gary Walkowicz:
Bargaining Committeeman and Convention Delegate
Dearborn Truck Plant, Local 600

When I ran for delegate to the UAW Convention, I said that I believe the top leadership of the UAW has been taking the union in the wrong direction. I said that, if elected, I would speak out against their policies.

At the UAW Constitutional Convention in June, I intend to run for UAW President because I believe it is the best way to draw attention to the issues that people in the Dearborn Truck Plant, and other UAW members, are concerned with. I will run for President because it is the best way to speak for a different policy.

When the recent concessions began in 2005, the UAW leadership said that giving up concessions would save jobs. But in 2005, we had 598,000 UAW members. Today, we have 370,000. We gave up concessions and LOST over 200,000 jobs. And the answer of the leadership to this loss of jobs is to increase our union dues!

When the concessions began, the UAW leadership said that autoworkers should sacrifice until the corporations were more profitable and then we would get everything back. But when the auto companies got back their high profits, what did the autoworkers get?

  • Seniority workers have not had a raise in 9 years and had one raise in the last 12 years.
  • Entry-level workers, working for 2nd tier wages and 2nd tier benefits, face a worse-off future than their parents. Despite promises, not a single entry-level worker has been brought up to 1st tier wages. And UAW workers doing outsourced work get paid 3rd tier wages.
  • With alternative work schedules, reduced break time and increased workloads, our bodies and our health are paying the price.
  • Retirees face an increasingly worse off future, having to pay more and more out of pocket for their health care, due to an under-funded VEBA.

These concessions are a result of the “partnership” our top leadership forged with the corporations. We shouldn’t be “partners” with corporations who keep taking from us.
It is going to take a fight to get back the concessions we have lost!

I don’t know how things will be at the Convention. I don’t know how many delegates will be willing to speak up and say what they really think. I don’t how many votes I will get from the delegates. But I am going to run for President in order to speak for all the UAW members whose voices are usually not heard. I am going to run for President to say that what the UAW has been doing is not working and that the UAW needs to make a fight.

Gary Walkowicz
Bargaining Committeeman and Convention Delegate
Dearborn Truck Plant, Local 600

Gwalk32@att.net (313) 737-3166

May 12, 2014 labor donated

Selfies

Talking loud and walking down the street – the same thing?

Night Owl Poetry - Dorinda Duclos

Photo via www.nationalreview.com Photo via http://www.nationalreview.com

Uncertain of how the world views me
I take my phone and hold it
Arms length from my face
And click the button

The lonely soul looking back at me
Is someone I do not recognize
I must be doing something wrong

I take more pictures, too many to count
Determined to capture
Through someone else’s eyes
The image I see of myself

©2014 Dorinda Duclos All Rights Reserved

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Don’t discount Sabahi in Egypt’s presidential race

Nervana

Sabahi-Sisi photo

( Photo via South China Morning Post )

This piece is published in Al-Monitor

Egypt’s presidential campaign has formally started, and political talk shows have become the new frontier for candidates Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahi to flex their muscles and charm the public. Although it’s hard to assess the real impact of these talk show interviews on viewers, they have clearly highlighted crucial aspects of the candidates’ manifestoes, personalities and styles. Contrary to earlier assumptions, the performance of both candidates in TV interviews has changed the perceptions of some and raised alarm bells for others. Overall, they have increased the prospect of a competitive election. Many who considered Sabahi’s candidacy a meaningless exercise are now asking themselves whether he can in fact gain enough support. However, a question mark hangs over the percentage of votes Sabahi can win.

In Egypt’s fluid and occasionally stormy political scene, the benchmark…

View original post 43 more words

Sharp rise in French Jews leaving for Israel | Maan News Agency

Kandel told AFP that the reasons for the hike in numbers were a “climate of anti-Semitism” and the prevailing gloomy economic situation in France.

France’s Jewish community is one of the largest in Europe and pegged at around 500,000.

The number of French Jews leaving for Israel has been growing steadily. A total of 1,907 left in 2012 and it rose to 3,280 in 2013.

More than three million people have emigrated to Israel since 1948, including some 90,000 from France.

via Sharp rise in French Jews leaving for Israel | Maan News Agency.

More Lebanese women are choosing to emigrate – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

The excuse about “maintaining the reputation” has fallen. A newly graduated Lebanese woman faces great difficulties finding a job in Lebanon that provides her with a minimum salary. The excuse about the risks in a foreign country has also fallen, at a time when females face difficult challenges in a country where employment discrimination still exists between males and females.

If what people say annoys some parents who are trying to prevent their daughters from traveling, the difficult reality has made what people say not matter much. A Lebanese woman finds herself facing two choices: either to stay in Lebanon surrounded by her parents but often without work, or to take the harder choice and emigrate to a place that may appreciate her talents and capabilities and where she could gain the social and economic status she aspires to.

Unlike the traditional reasons for emigrating, such as following her husband, Lebanese women are emigrating to start their careers. Thus they leave Lebanon alone, in search of an alternative homeland that allows them to achieve their ambitions without worrying about social or employment discrimination.

via More Lebanese women are choosing to emigrate – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Avian Flu Diary: CDC : 2nd Imported MERS Case Confirmed In Florida

Avian Flu Diary: CDC : 2nd Imported MERS Case Confirmed In Florida.

 

The unidentified HCW left Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and flew to London on May 1st, and began to feel unwell on the flight.  He then flew on to Boston, then Atlanta, and finally arrived in Orlando Florida. The CDC is doing airline contact tracing for those who may have had close exposure to this patient (a number that could approach 500 contacts on US flights alone).

The patient went to a local Emergency Room on May 8th, was admitted, and state public health testing subsequently identified this patient as being infected with the virus.   The CDC confirmed the results last night.

The press conference was conducted by CDC director Dr. Tom FriedenDr. Anne Schuchat, and Florida Surgeon General John H. Armstrong, who all stressed that the risk to the general public is extremely low.

High school student’s “rape culture” artwork banned from showcase for being “inappropriate”

“I started at an early age at a Christian school, locally, and we were always taught that it was our responsibility as women to cover up and be modest, and if a man was to ever get aroused or turned on or be interested in us, it was our fault,” said Holtzclaw. “Eventually, I had gotten sexually assaulted. It was true when it happened. Everyone blamed me for it and told me it was my fault and that just led the way into this art piece.”

“I know I’m not the only girl in high school that’s been sexually assaulted and felt like it was my fault, so I wanted to get the word out there and tell people, ‘It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault,’” said Holtzclaw. “Things that need to be talked about shouldn’t be taboo, because people struggle and we need to talk about those kind of things that people struggle with.”

So, basically, the whole point of Holtzclaw’s piece was to break the taboo around discussing sexual assault and victim-blaming — a taboo which was then perfectly illustrated by the school district’s response to it. Come on, people. At least we can help ensure that Holtzclaw’s piece — and important message — gets an even wider audience on the interwebs.

via High school student’s “rape culture” artwork banned from showcase for being “inappropriate”.