Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

U.S.-based CARE International has forfeited its substantial slice of the food aid pie that is the U.S. “Food for Peace” program, claiming that the way the U.S. government distributes food hurts small poor farmers in the very communities and countries the program is supposed to help.

Inter Press Service
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/24/3395/

This is big. Known this for some time, that our subsidized food and food aid crippled the agricultural economies of much of the third world, but CARE saying so is big.

http://www.candorville.com/wordpress/2007/08/25/stocksdown/

This was Dad's view.

After learning the history/meaning of the term "Fourth Estate" it's says something about the sad condition of journalism, ahistorical and uncaring, that this term has enjoyed as much currency as it has.

An extension of the three estates declared by Louis XVI in 1789! Lords, clergy, and commoners (which didn't include poor folk). That journalism would ever aspire or declare itself an estate in such an undemocratic system or conception of society...

At least the essay is about moving beyond that.

But it provides almost nothing worthwhile in my opinion.

Death by Numbers
We’re obssessed with plane crashes and bridge collapses, yet we pay little attention to the stuff that kills the rest of us.
by Meghan Daum
Published on Saturday, August 18, 2007 by The Los Angeles Times

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/18/3253/

Good reference for the point that news should be about what matters – with death being a useful, unambiguous defining of important –

We should all go to politicians' speeches with citation needed signs.

In case we needed reminding that the fight against injustice is a fight needing to be fought everywhere, here's a brief article on slave-labor conditions of immigrant workers in oil-rich countries:

Steve Boriss of http://thefutureofnews.com posted that Rupert Murdoch would split the national newspaper market into right and left, with the Wall Street Journal overshadowing the allegedly liberal New York Times and Wall Street Journal. I think he's right but noted on his site:

Except that CNN, NY Times, and Washington Post aren't really left in any way that matters, certainly not on matters of economic justice that would bother the 2% of people like Rupert Murdoch who claim to own half the planet.

Allow me to introduce you to the Moment of Truth
4-28-07 First They Came for the Latinos
http://mejeffdorchen.oblivio.com/moments/moment_latinos.html

A Guide to What’s Wrong with Economics (2004)
http://www.paecon.net/guidecontents.htm

Need for other visions beyond neoclassical.

Including a chapter by Richard Wolf.

From the chapter list it is mostly about what's wrong and the need for alternatives, but as it looks to be written by people who are studying and creating fuller, more useful, and more human models, I'm sure a lot of that gets in.

12 vote plug muscle power... volt even.

http://www.econvergence.net/electroacc.htm

$800 for everything.

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cost.html
Average household uses 10,000 kwh electricity a year

The average cost per kWh of electricity is about 10 cents.
So, .01 cents per Watt-hour.

That's $0.1 per kWh
or $0.0001 per Watt-hour.

So $800 / $.0001 per watt-hour = the need to generate 8,000,000 watt-hours to pay this off.

So Jay Rosen's Assignment Zero - http://zero.newassignment.net/ - is done, did not by force of momentum turn into a huge community of citizen amateur and professional journalists, and a leader of the project openly asks if it failed. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2007/07/assignment_zero_final

Tish Grier has a more positive take, and I respect her opinion.
http://spap-oop.blogspot.com/2007/07/assignment-zero-post-mortem.html

But I never saw the point of the project in the first place.

AtlanticRichfieldCompany
had ad on back of 1974 National Geographic advocating democratic reforms (one person one vote, hinting at abolition of electoral college)

The real
Our election laws and
traditions reflect the country
as it was decades ago.
The time has come to ask
some basic questions.

How long should elected officials serve?
Is there still a need for the electoral college?
Should taxpayers foot the bill for election campaigns?
Does our present system truly provide one vote for each person?

travel game

Homefries played it with others going to a queer prom, and shared it with us.

Someone starts singing a song, and anyone else can take over by singing a different song (no repeats) that they are reminded of

We added the concept of a challenge-- are those songs really connected? Of course, we accept any answer, and no one keeps score...

Jeff tended to add backup bass or other vocalizations to good songs, and we'd all sing along sometimes.

If you need to bail people out in Spokane, Washington, look for Pete's. In particular, a worker with a name beginning with L.

They give group discounts!

The power of the media, when used.

[Chicago] TRIBUNE UPDATE
'The freezers are full': Kindness of strangers saves pantry

By Lolly Bowean
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 4, 2007
On Tuesday afternoon LoQuator Dinkins was inside her Hazel Crest food pantry explaining to a client that she didn't have meat and canned goods, but he could take all the bread and fresh produce he could eat.

People brought food, paid her electric bill, and made donations.

New Open Free Data License: http://www.publicintegrity.org/telecom/report.aspx?aid=902

MediaTracker: http://www.publicintegrity.org/telecom

From: Center for Public Integrity
Date: Jul 3, 2007 9:50 AM
Subject: Center Releases License for Non-Commercial Use of Its Media Tracker

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Steve Carpinelli (202) 481-1225

Center Releases License for Non-Commercial Use of Its Media Tracker
Media and Telecom Project Provides Researchers Freedom to Use Data

[Chicago] TRIBUNE UPDATE
'The freezers are full': Kindness of strangers saves pantry

By Lolly Bowean
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 4, 2007
On Tuesday afternoon LoQuator Dinkins was inside her Hazel Crest food pantry explaining to a client that she didn't have meat and canned goods, but he could take all the bread and fresh produce he could eat.

People brought food, paid her electric bill, and made donations.

Wanting to shave without destroying the planet through production, packaging, and shipping, I went searching...

most planet-friendly razor
sustainable razor

Found this...
http://www.recycline.com/products/preserverazortriple.html
... but it appears to have disposable blades that come in excessive packaging! Frankly, the handle wasn't the part of the razor that bothered me.

I bought a razor sharpening kit from Sustainable Village instead:
EP7681 Razor Saver $ 12.00

http://www.thesustainablevillage.com/