Uncle Tong’s Cabin

May 7th, 2013 | Posted by Peregrin Wood in Reviews | State and Local - (2 Comments)

I’m visiting Houston, and staying in a hotel room without a kitchen, so last night I went out to pick up some dinner from a restaurant within walking distance: Uncle Tong’s Hunan Cuisine.

The owner of the restaurant met me at the door, and she seemed nice enough at first, as she took my order. As I was leaving, however, she volunteered an opinion about the neighborhood in which she had put her business. “Don’t go over there after dark,” she said, pointing to the Greenspoint Mall. “It’s very dangerous. There are too many blacks and Mexicans.” She repeated the warning, over and over again. It was such a strange thing for her to say, without any provocation, that I was caught off balance. I didn’t know what to say. At that moment, I wanted to escape the situation, so I just left.

Afterwards, I regretted my hasty withdrawal. I wished I had thought of something to say, like, “It’s not right for you to say that entire groups of people are dangerous, because of nothing other than their ethnicity. It’s racist, and I won’t be coming back to your restaurant.”

I missed the opportunity… so I’m making a new one right now. I’m writing this article to call out the Uncle Tong’s restaurant, and warn other people who live, work, or visit near the Greenspoint Plaza towers where the restaurant is located.

Uncle Tong’s Hunan Cuisine is operated by racists who use their business to encourage others to embrace racism. Racism makes their food taste like garbage. Don’t eat there.

uncle tongs

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Niburu The Giant Planet Of Doom Zips Beneath The Clouds In West Texas

April 30th, 2013 | Posted by F. G. Fitzer in Religion - (3 Comments)

Niburu is the UFO of our times.

A video shot in West Texas on April 17, 2013 is claimed to show the planet Niburu closing in on planet Earth, so near that the light reflecting off its surface can be seen in the sky even by the light of day.

niburu the speck of doomWhat is the planet Niburu?

Back in 1995, Nancy Lieder began to warn that a planet named Niburu was on a near collision course with Earth. The end of the world would come in 2013, when the passage of Niburu would cause the magnetic field of Earth to flip, resulting in the death of nearly all human beings.

How did Lieder know? She had been chosen as emissary to Earth by the inhabitants of the Zeti Reticuli star system. She had been meeting with the Zetans since she was a child, and they began to tell her secret things. They are still telling her secrets to this day, she says.

Those of you who are especially observant will have noted that the Earth’s magnetic field has not flipped. Nonetheless, some people still believe in the imminent arrival of Niburu. How do they explain the lack of any evidence of Niburu’s arrival?

One Niburu fan insists that there’s a huge academic coverup by researchers who are lying, saying that Niburu does not exist “to get their grant money and help their universities get federal funding.” I have to admit that I am not an academic, but my general sense is that one of the best ways to secure funding for my research would be to be the first person to present a peer-reviewed academic paper proving that a large planet will soon come close to smashing into our own planet.

But then, the Niburu believers say that there is evidence of Niburi coming close to Earth. One example this evidence, they say, is the video shot this month in West Texas. If the white circle in the video was in fact a planet in outer space, other than the ones we’re familiar with, it would indeed be worthy of note. The planet, judging by the size of the orb, would either be huge, or be closer to Earth than either Venus or Mars.

One little detail in the video, however, shows that the object shown really isn’t very large, and it’s much, much closer to Earth than Venus or Mars. The object moves in front of a line of clouds shown in the video. The object, when it crosses the line of clouds, isn’t obscured by them. It remains as bright as ever. That means that the object is within the lower earth atmosphere, and not very large at all. If it’s a planet, it’s a tiny, tiny, planet… about the size of a shiny mylar balloon.

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John Cornyn Thinks Hill Country Is In Washington D.C.

February 4th, 2013 | Posted by Peregrin Wood in Religion - (0 Comments)

Republican John Cornyn represents Texas in the U.S. Senate, so you’d think that he would know a few basic things about the geography… such as the fact that Texas Hill Country is, you know, in Texas. That simple fact seems to have escaped Senator Cornyn’s notice this week, however, as the insider politician holds a Hill Country event in downtown Washington D.C.

Tomorrow night, John Cornyn is holding a party at Hill Country… Hill Country BBQ Restaurant, that is, on 7th Street in Washington D.C., conveniently near office buildings filled with corporate lobbyists. Apparently, for Senator Cornyn, a Texas-themed restaurant is as good as the same thing, because instead of meeting with and working with his constituents in Texas, he’ll be meeting with other Washington D.C. insiders in a place with Texas-style décor.

washington texanTo be fair, the Hill Country restaurant does have more than one location. The other one is on West 26th Street in New York City.

Hosting John Cornyn’s rootin’ tootin’ pretending-to-be-in-Texas party are Jamie Gregory, lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors, headquartered in Chicago; Doyce Boesch, lobbyist for the city of South Lake Tahoe, California, and FMR Corporation (formerly known as Fidelity Management and Research, a big finance company headquartered in Boston; Mark Todd, a lobbyist for Altria, the parent company of cigarette dealer Philip Morris, headquartered in Virginia; and Missy Edwards, who in spite of her girlish name does the very grown up work of lobbying for Roche Holdings, a German-Swiss company with U.S. offices in California, Arizona, Wisconsin, Indiana, and the East Coast, but none anywhere close to Texas.

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Who Buys Senator John Cornyn Face Time? See the List.

December 8th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Election 2014 | Politics | Republicans - (0 Comments)

When you attend the December 11 invitation-only fundraiser for Senator John Cornyn, you’re supposed to make a check out to “Texans for John Cornyn,” supporting the Republican politician in his bid for re-election in 2014. But “Texans for John Cornyn” isn’t actually a Texas organization; as this invitation obtained by the Sunlight Foundation shows, it operates out of a headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

Are any of the people hosting the “Texans for John Cornyn” fundraiser actually from Texas?

To confirm your attendance, you’d send an e-mail to Magda Patrick or Claire Willis of the Aristeia Group at (703) 549-5090 or magda@aristeiagroup.com. Don’t bother looking up aristeiagroup.com online: as with most political fundraising firms, it keeps a low public profile so that its political beneficiaries can’t get hurt. But the 703 area code isn’t a Texas area code. It’s a Northern Virginia area code. As this secondary profile indicates, the Aristeia Group works in Alexandria, across the Potomac river from the White House and the Capitol Building and just a block from where suburban Washington’s elite practice their rowing.

What about individual hosts Marilyn Harris, Doyce Boesch and Jim Courtovich? They’re not really “Texans for John Cornyn” either. Marilyn Harris is the “Vice President, Federal and International Government Affairs” for Marathon Oil company. Translation: she’s a Washington, DC lobbyist who walks the halls of Congress for one of the largest oil corporations in the world and a descendant of the Standard Oil trust. Also a Washington DC lobbyist is Doyce Boesch, a lobbyist for massive health care corporations and Performant Corp., an outfit that makes its profit by squeezing poor people for every last drop of outstanding student loan and hospital bills. Doyce Boesch’s address isn’t in Texas. It’s 1120 G Street NW, Washington DC. As for Jim Courtovich, he specializes in throwing exclusive parties for Washington’s social, political and diplomatic elite when he isn’t lobbying for foreign telecommunications giants Abertis Infraestructuras and Telefonica Internacional.

The other sponsors of John Cornyn’s fundraiser can’t possibly be Texans because they aren’t even people. They’re political action committees for some more of the world’s largest, most aggressive corporations:

Fluor PAC
Koch Industries PAC
International Paper PAC
Aflac PAC
Boeing PAC
Amgen PAC
Altria PAC
Akin Gump Civic Action PAC
DaVita PAC
DynCorp International PAC

By the look of it, there may not be a single actual Texan for John Cornyn at next week’s fundraiser, not unless you count John Cornyn himself.

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Class B Misdemeanor Criminal Trespass For President

November 2nd, 2012 | Posted by The Green Man in Activism | Election 2012 | Environment | Greens - (3 Comments)

While Mitt Romney comments that he doesn’t want to stop the rising sea levels associated with global warming, and Barack Obama is suddenly trying to reposition himself as a strong opponent of climate change after years of neglect of environmental issues, there is one presidential candidate who has consistently taken strong action to confront the climate crisis: Jill Stein.

climate activist and presidential candidate 2012

Dr. Stein has continued her climate activism this week with an arrest in Sacul, Texas. Stein was delivering supplies to protesters there, at a site where clearing of the land has begun for the XL Pipeline that will deliver tar sands from Alberta to be processed and burned in the United States, when she was taken into custody by police, and thrown into the Wood County jail on charges of class B misdemeanor criminal trespass.

Explaining her willingness to be arrested to help the protesters, Stein said, “Hurricane Sandy is just a taste of what’s to come… We must stand up now and call for climate solutions and green prosperity. The blockaders are heroes. They are on the front line of stopping even worse climate storms in the future.”

“I’m here to connect the dots between climate devastation and pipeline politicians – both Obama and Romney – who are competing, as we saw in the debates, for the role of Puppet In Chief for the fossil fuel industry. Both deserve that title. Obama’s record of “drill baby drill” has gone beyond the harm done by George Bush. Mitt Romney promises more of the same.”

While Mitt Romney continues to pretend that climate change does not even exist, and Barack Obama promotes the continuation of the coal and oil economy that led to the climate crisis in the first place, Dr. Jill Stein is taking direct action, and has put her liberty on the line to confront the problem. That’s just one of many reasons that, on Tuesday, Jill Stein has my vote.

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A Presidential Candidate For Urban Agriculture

October 7th, 2012 | Posted by jclifford in Election 2012 | Greens | Politics | State and Local - (1 Comments)

Imagine the following press release sent out from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue:

“Driven by vision, hands working with the feet to make things happen, we have formed a cooperative of individuals interested in learning how to create in our community a green industry where we grow the food we eat.

We learn about self-sufficiency, sustainability and explore the different possibilities that will allow us to have a community that we truly appreciate.

We like to gather on weekends to play in the dirt, plant and share meals at the picnic tables by the ponds. We eat live food from the garden and use mustard leaves as dinner plates, so bring your own fork!”

houston texasOf course, this statement has not come from the White House. It has, however, come from an organization embraced by a real presidential candidate. It’s part of the mission statement of the Last Organic Outpost, an urban agriculture operation in the middle of sprawling Houston, Texas.

Right now, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is touring the Last Organic Outpost, and preparing to have a lunch made from the food there, served on one of those plates of mustard greens.

Can you imagine how things could be different if we had a President of the United States who recognized the value of such efforts, instead of bowing to pressure from big Wall Street donors who thrive on an industrial system that encourages people to feed themselves on sugar-soaked synthetic foods wrapped in plastic?

You can throw your vote away on yet another corporate candidate – Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, or you can vote for a candidate with more individual integrity. Find out more at the Jill Stein for President campaign web site.

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EPA Lack Of Enforcement Is The Real Problem

August 23rd, 2012 | Posted by The Green Man in Environment | State and Local - (2 Comments)

Republican politicians complain that the Environmental Protection Agency shouldn’t be able to to enforce any new environmental regulations because excessive enforcement by the EPA is ruining American business.

Tell that to the people of Frisco, Texas, who are suffering lead pollution throughout their community because the EPA refuses to enforce regulations that are already on the books. The local citizen group Frisco Unleaded is filing a lawsuit to force the regulation that the EPA refuses to put into place. “Frisco Unleaded and the Downwinders at Risk Education Fund view this lawsuit as an action of last resort after decades of regulatory failure concerning the Exide lead smelter,” says Colette McCadden, an officer of the organization.

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Mitt Romney Charter School Push Would Open Education To Corruption

August 19th, 2012 | Posted by Peregrin Wood in Election 2012 | Ethics | Religion - (2 Comments)

At the core of Mitt Romney’s plan for education is a concept that he’s had plenty of experience with in the business world: Outsourcing. Mitt Romney wants to reduce federal funding for public school systems, while at the same time draining money out of school districts by promoting the creation of charter schools – redundant schools operated by independent organizations with reduced public accountability.

Unlike the leaders of public school districts, who are chosen by residents in public elections, charter school leaders are typically self-appointed, without any reasonable mechanism for being removed from their positions through democratic means. This special protection from democratic accountability can result in corruption at charter schools, and the violation of the legal rights of students and their families.

An example of these problems is found down in Universal City, Texas, a suburb of San Antonio. That’s where the Shekinah Learning Institute, a charter school organization, set up its own schools, taking money away from the public school district in order to do so.

ethical violationsMitt Romney claims that charter schools will operate with greater efficiency and create greater economic success than public schools, because they are free from many of the government regulations created through democratic community oversight. The schools run by the Shekinah Learning Institute are neither more efficient nor more academically successful, however. Multiple schools operated by the Shekinah Learning Institute have been rated as academically unacceptable.

In spite of that failure, the Shekinah Learning Institute’s leaders are paid enormous salaries. Cheryl Washington, the superintendent of two Shekinah schools, is paid a base salary of $252,498.00 per year. That’s in the ballpark of the salary paid to superintendents of large school districts in Texas with between 50,000 and 100,000 students. The two schools that Cheryl Washington operates have only 1,600 students.

With efficiency and academic success flown out the window at this charter school network, professional ethics appear to have disintegrated as well. Besides being the superintendent of two Shekinah Learning Institute schools, Cheryl Washington is the pastor of Shadrach Temple International, a Christian church. Cheryl Washington was discovered to have arranged for the school to buy a former church and then rent it out to the Shadrach Temple International. Washington represented both Shekinah Learning Institute and Shadrach Temple International in the deal, essentially negotiating with herself, for the financial benefit of her church, and doing so using public money and authority granted to her through the charter school arrangement.

This corrupt self-dealing by the leadership of Shekinah Learning Institute was compounded by the violation of the constitutional rights of the parents, teachers, and taxpayers that were supposed to be served by the charter school organization. The likelihood of trouble should have been plain in the name of the very name Shekinah Learning Institute. Shekinah is a Hebrew term that refers to a place that houses the spirit of the Hebrew divinity Yahweh. In its name, the charter school organization was suggesting that its schools would become centers of religious worship, rather than serious education.

That’s just what appears to have happened at schools run by the Shekinah Learning Institute. The Shekinah Radiance Academy, for example, encouraged its students to attend a weekly Christian religious service and held Bible study courses. The taxpayers who financially support the Shekinah Learning Institute include non-Christians. They shouldn’t be forced to pay for classes at a school that promotes Christian worship, while ignoring all other religions.

The example of the Shekinah Learning Institute illustrates a good number of the serious problems that often come about as a result of the creation of charter schools. Yet, Mitt Romney wants to expand charter schools across the nation. That’s just one more reason to vote against Mitt Romney in this year’s presidential election.

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